Crossed Roads
by Thomas Mc
Summary: Abigail Holt becomes involved in a shootout in Catherine Chandler’s apartment building. The investigation quickly snowballs into a massive spy case and causes several lives to intersect in surprising ways.
1. Impossible Intruder

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**_Author's Notes: _**_A few months after **Though Lovers Be Lost (Revised)** A shootout in Catherine's apartment building snowballs into a massive spy case and causes several lives to intersect in surprising ways._

_The time setting of this story is rather complicated. It is shortly after the secret wedding of Scarecrow and Amanda, a year after the end of the '**Remington Steele**' series, and the summer after the end of the second season of the '**Beauty and the Beast**' series.  
_

_Also I have begun a chapter by chapter repair of some problems with the text that were caused by the text editor on this site  
_

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**Part 1: Impossible Intruder**

**_December / 1988_**

Lee Stetson, (code name Scarecrow), pulled up his coat collar, as he stood, shivering, in the shadows by the dock. Despite his best efforts to keep out the cold damp New York air, he could still feel it down to his bones. He did a quick scan of the area, checking for intruders, and then returned his attention to the dark waterway. He could just make out the Swedish merchant ship that was carrying the package he was here to pick up. Dimitri Benko, the defector he was here to retrieve, had contacted them a little over two months ago with useful information about the ship that Lee was currently watching come in. Dimitri had told them that the ship was actually a Russian spy ship. Some careful checks had verified the info and now Lee was here to bring him in as soon after the ship docked as possible.

The Spy ship was really just a bonus, a minor win, the real prize was Dimitri's knowledge of a massive spy ring that was believed to be working out of the United Nations, a major thorn in the side of the entire free world. He would be debriefed and given a new American identity. The one loose end to all of this was motive. They still had no idea why Dimitri had decided to defect. In this business it was dangerous to trust unless you knew the motives. Lee looked at his watch. It was a few minutes past midnight. He looked back out at the ship. Judging by its current position he figured that the ship would be docking in about an hour.

Lee became aware of a small boat out on the water slowly scanning about with a search light. He watched the boat for a few seconds then, as was his usual careful habit, he did another quick scan of the dock area and detected movement a few hundred feet away. At first all he could make out was a large amorphous shape in the shadows near the warehouses. Cautiously Lee edged deeper into the shadows, his senses at high alert. The shape moved again but in the dim light he could not get a clear enough view of the shape to identify it. The shape started moving from the warehouses towards the docks and Lee ascertained that it was a man, a very large man, wearing some kind of dark, hooded, floor length cape. Whoever it was he had to be at least six and a half feet tall and very powerfully built.

The stranger went to the water's edge and reached down. He appeared to be helping someone out of the water. After a few moments of conversation with the new arrival, too low for Lee to overhear, the large hooded figure picked up the other man like he weighed less than a bag of potatoes. The big stranger started carrying the other man towards the warehouses. He seemed to be totally unaffected by his burden as he moved with an easy catlike grace that Lee envied.

Lee glanced back out at the ship, there was plenty of time still before it docked, then he proceeded to stealthily follow the hooded figure. Just before he reached the warehouses the large stranger stopped and Lee stepped deeper into the shadows and froze. The stranger turned around and scanned the area where Lee was hidden. Lee tried to see the strangers face but the hood was so deep that all he could see was dark shadow and a momentary glint that might have been his eyes. Then Lee caught a glimpse of the face of the second man that was being carried and his interest peaked. The man being carried appeared to be unconscious and his face matched the description they had been given of Dimitri Benko.

The large stranger turned back around and began moving along the line of warehouses. Lee was once again on the trail, carefully working his way closer to the large figure he was tailing. Knowing he would be at a serious disadvantage if it came down to a hand to hand confrontation with his massive, and very agile, quarry, he felt for the comforting weight of his gun. The quarry suddenly stopped and whipped around to look straight at him, then just as quickly turned back and sprinted around the corner of the building he had stopped next to.

Lee stood rooted to the spot in surprise and shock for a few critical seconds, and then with a curse he shook off his momentary paralysis and took off after his quarry, pulling his gun as he went. When Lee rounded the corner, the alley between the buildings was empty. He ran to the T-junction at the far end only to be faced with dead ends in both directions. The massive figure was gone, vanished into thin air. Lee whipped around, with the feeling that he was being watched but there was no one there. Who was the hunter now, and who was the quarry?

Lee spent the next forty-five minutes searching the entire area but he came up empty. No quarry and no place for him to hide. All the time he kept seeing that frightening image from the second time his quarry had turned. He just couldn't get it out of his mind. With another colorful curse he finally put his gun away and headed towards the dock where the ship he was to meet was just easing in to its berth.

~ o ~

The next morning Lee was sitting at his desk in the Q-branch office, carefully examining his finished report as Amanda looked on sympathetically. Their boss, Billy, had not been happy about his failure and Lee was not particularly pleased with himself either. Regardless of the reason, he had hesitated and had lost his quarry. He sighed and signed the report. It was as complete as he could make it or, to be more precise, as complete as he was willing to make it. The only thing he had left out was the reason for his hesitation. When his quarry had turned around that second time the light from the nearby building, had illuminated the figures face and he had seen something that he would never forget for the rest of his life. There was no way he could include what he had seen and heard because it could cost him his career.

At least the information they had been given on the ship had been correct. The spy ship had been impounded, the crew questioned and an important Russian spy operation had been thwarted. Unfortunately the informer was still missing. Things were also complicated when it was discovered that some of the ship's crew had come down with pneumonic plague.

Questioning of the crew had brought out that Dimitri had been found out but had escaped. It was believed that he had jumped overboard. A massive search of the area, where the large unidentified intruder had disappeared, had turned up empty. It was now believed that the man the stranger had pulled out of the water had been Dimitri.

The down side was that the disappearance of Dimitri had apparently caused the major spy organization they were after to pull back and that part of the investigation had eventually turned into a dead end.

~ x x x x x ~

It had been a three days since the Dimitri affair and Lee continued to fret over what had happened. Had he really seen and heard what he thought he had seen and heard? He just couldn't purge that image from his mind.

As Amanda was rubbing Lee's shoulders, she could tell that he was troubled. "Lee, what's wrong?"

Lee reached up to his shoulder and patted her hand. "It's nothing."

"Don't give me that. I've known you too long." She had come around and was now standing in front of him, arms crossed, her best stern mother look on her face. "Something is bothering you. Does it have something to do with the spy ship case?"

Lee looked up at her. There was a haunted quality to his gaze. "It was that intruder on the docks."

"What about him?"

"The second time he turned around. The light from the warehouse shown under the hood and I caught a momentary glimpse of his face."

"Why didn't you put that in your report?" She was puzzled.

"Because it wasn't human!" He blurted out in a rush.

"What do you mean it wasn't human? Was he deformed?" She asked, feeling a bit confused and unsure.

"No, it wasn't deformed. It really wasn't anything like that at all." There was an unsettling intensity to the haunted look in Lee's eyes as he continued. "He had the face of a lion."

It took a moment for her to absorb what he had said before she could respond. "It was a mask. . . . You were fooled by a trick of the lighting." That haunted look worried Amanda. She cared too much for this man, and an agent couldn't afford to be haunted by fear or doubt.

"No, I was too close to make that type of mistake." He looked into her eyes with a frightening intensity. "Amanda, it looked right straight at me. I saw its eyes. There was no mistake, it was **not** a mask. It was the face of a lion. It growled at me and I saw its fangs." He shook his head. "It had long sharp fangs. The only other explanation is that I've gone insane."

Francine entered the Q-branch office, holding a folder. She took one look at the two of them and jumped to a conclusion. "Look Lee, we all mess up now and then. You just have to let it go. You're not the first agent to freeze when caught by something unexpected from out of left field. You will get another crack at him." She waved the folder she was carrying. "We just got this from our contact in Russia. It seems that Dimitri has a girlfriend there in New York. She's scheduled to get married in two days."

Lee smacked his fist on the desk top. "That's the missing piece. That's why he defected." Now that Lee had something solid to work with, he became energized. "We need to mount a full twenty-four hour surveillance on her and we also need to be at that wedding in case he shows up. Francine, see if you can get us into that wedding somehow."

~ o ~

Back in New York again, Lee and Amanda stood at the buffet table serving food and watching the wedding guests. They had spotted a local Soviet operative and managed to quietly remove him from the scene. By tomorrow morning he would wake up to a splitting headache and smelling of alcohol.

Immediately after the wedding was over they returned to Washington.

Lee was reporting to Billy. "Dimitri never showed up and the wedding went on without a hitch."

Billy, Francine and Amanda all cringed at the pun.

Amanda added, "Besides that Russian agent, the only other unusual incident was when an elegantly dressed woman apparently stumbled into the middle of the ceremony by mistake. She immediately apologized and left."

Amanda was again picturing the incident in her mind. The thing about it that stuck with her was the look of surprise then deep sadness in the woman's eyes. It had matched Amanda's own feelings about the situation. Dimitri had defected, leaving everything he knew behind, in order to join the woman he loved but she was marrying someone else. Then it hit her. "Oh my gosh, we may have missed an important contact." She looked at the others in surprise and chagrin.

"What do you mean?" Billy and Lee both asked.

"That woman that I just mentioned. Maybe she was there on behalf of Dimitri. If she was there to bring the girlfriend to Dimitri and found her getting married to someone else, then that would explain why she looked so surprised and sad."

"Do we know who she is?" Billy asked.

"Not a clue. It happened so quickly there was no time to react. The whole thing took less than five seconds." She seemed lost in thought for a second. "Now that I think about it, there was something oddly familiar about her . . . but . . . I just can't put my finger on it." She shook her head.

"Another dead end." Lee shrugged resignedly, shaking his head. It looked like their investigation was right back at square one and the best lead they had run across in nearly two years had vanished without a trace.

~ o ~

On an eighteenth floor balcony overlooking Central Park a beautiful elegantly dressed woman stood facing a large fierce looking lion-man. Their attitude spoke of a closeness that belied their disparate appearance.

The Lion-man spoke. "There is nothing you could have done Catherine. The die had already been cast. Even if Dimetrie had lived, it would have been too late to stop the wedding."

The woman responded. "I know that Vincent." She shook her head. "Still, it's just so damn tragic." She paused as she looked out over the park. Then she spoke more softly. "At least he died still believing that he would soon be back with his love."

The lion-man quietly put his arm around her and pulled her into his comforting embrace as the two of them gazed wordlessly out into the night.

~ x x x x x ~

_**Continued in Chapter 2**_

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_**Another Author's Note: **This is my first attempt at a full out crossover story. I tried to stay true to the character and canon for all characters involved, please let me know your thoughts on my success or failure._

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"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. - - "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and Shoot The Moon. - - "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	2. Steele Responding

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 2: Steele Responding**

**_July / 1989_**

In an office in an indifferently maintained, rather than actually neglected, Manhattan building a computer bleeped drawing the attention of the balding middle aged man. Like the building, he was fairly unremarkable in appearance, the kind of person you would pass on the street without a second glance. If you did notice him you would describe him as 'ordinary looking'. He glanced at the screen then, pressed a button, printing out the data displayed. Next he called the number displayed at the bottom of the screen.

"This is the monitoring center. I have a hit on the John Abbot I.D." . . .

"Yes, it is confirmed." . . .

"He may be dead but he bought groceries and flowers right here in New York." . . .

"Yes, Sir, I understand." . . .

The unremarkable man shook his head as he hung up the phone. He folded the printout and put it in an envelope, as he had been instructed, then he sealed and addressed it to a person that sent shivers down his spine. "So what makes you so dangerous that they order out the top hit squad, just at the mention of your name?" He signaled for a courier and dispatched the envelope on to its destination. Once done he went back to watching his football game.

~ x x x x x ~

**_Monday Morning - July / 1989 (One week later – Day 1)_**

**_7:30 am LA time  
10:30 am NY time_**

The man and the woman both stirred in their bed, both only half asleep. The woman was very career oriented and had always been an early riser. Normally she would already be up and on the go. However, lying in this man's arms was the one activity that could keep her in bed later than was usual for her. The man was the easy going, take life as it happened, type. Normally this early in the morning he would just roll over and go back to sleep. However, he found holding this woman was far more enjoyable than going back to sleep. After two years of marriage they still couldn't get enough of the simple pleasure of lying in each other's arms.

The alarm clock went off. Remington reached out, stretching his arm to the limit, and hit the snooze button then rolled back over to put his arm back around Laura.

"Time to get up?" She mumbled sleepily as she snuggled in closer.

"Too early." Remington mumbled. A couple of minutes later the alarm went off again and he hit the snooze button again, this time to no effect. He lifted his head. "What?" He blinked. "Oh, it's the phone."

Laura looked over at the clock and mumbled under her breath. "Who could be calling us at 7:30 in the morning?" The phone rang again.

Remington yawned. "You want me to get it, Love?"

"Naw, I'm closer." She grumbled as she reluctantly pulled away from him and sat up.

She reached for the phone. "Hello, Steele residence." Laura yawned into the phone. She had just recently gotten used to using that name, though at work they still went by the names of Steele and Holt. And when talking to clients they referred to themselves as partners.

A too familiar voice responded to her greeting. "Laura dear, Can you and Remington come to New York? I'm in trouble, and I need your help."

Laura was instantly awake. "Mother?"

Her mother's voice came back. "I think that I may have gotten into something over my head . . . What? . . . Who?" Then Laura heard her mother yell, "**John lookout**!" There was a loud clatter of the phone hitting the floor followed by the sound of a gunshot and the crash of breaking glass. There were three more gunshots that were almost simultaneous and a woman's painful scream. "**John**!" Then a man yelled out, "**Abby**!" There was another gunshot followed by a man's course voice cursing loudly and two more shots. Next was the sound of a slamming door. After several seconds there was a thud like something hitting a wall and two more almost simultaneous gunshots. For a couple of seconds there was silence as Laura sat there stunned by what she was hearing. Then there were two distant gunshots followed by more silence.

During all this Laura had just sat there, shivering, surprise and shock showing on her face as the unseen drama unfolded over the phone.

Remington had noticed her reaction. "Laura? What's wrong, Love?"

Laura shook off her momentary paralysis. "Remmy! Get this line traced before it goes dead." Laura was breathing hard, her eyes wide with fright.

Remington jumped out of bed and ran over to the little office area with its second phone line. He quickly dialed a number. "Benny, it's Remington. I've got a real emergency here. I need you to trace the call currently on our home phone and call back as soon as you get it." He glanced over at the look on his wife's face. "And please hurry."

While Remington was on the other phone Laura could hear a distant pounding coming over the phone in her hand.

After hanging up Remington went over and put his arms around his wife. "Laura what's wrong? What happened?"

Lara heard several more distant gunshots and pounding then a crashing sound. After that there was nothing but the quiet of an open line. She looked up into his eyes, her fear clearly visible on her face. "That was mother. She's in New York. She's in trouble. I heard several gunshots and mother screamed."

"OK, we'll take care of it." He went back over to the office phone and called Mildred at home.

"Look Mildred I'm sorry if I woke you but I need you to get us two seats on the first available flight to New York. This is an emergency. Laura and I will want to be leaving as soon as Benny gets back to us with an address."

Remington hung up the phone then put his arms around Laura, who still held the phone clutched tightly in her hand. He tried to calm her down. "As soon as Benny calls back we'll be on the first plane to New York." He continued to comfort her.

A few minutes later Benny called back with a trace on the last phone call. After Remington hung up he spoke to Laura, "That was Benny. He got the address. It's on Central Park West. That's a pretty high class neighborhood."

Remington quickly packed an overnight bag then called Mildred back. "Have you got those tickets for us?"

"Yes I do Boss. I got you booked on the 9:10 am flight to New York. It's a six and a half hour flight and you should arrive there at around 6:40 pm New York time. The tickets have already been paid for. I charged them to the agency account. Your tickets will be waiting for you at the check-in counter. I also sent Fred around with the limo to take you to the airport; he should be there by now."

"Thanks Mildred, you're a peach. I need two more things."

"You got it, Boss."

"Book us into a hotel as near Central Park as possible, then go by the apartment and pack us both about a week's worth of clothes and ship it overnight to our hotel. I'll call you when we land to find out where we are staying."

Mildred responded. "Sure thing, Boss. And both of you be careful. I'm just beginning to get used to the two of you and I don't want to have to train new employers." There was a pause. "If you need anything else you let me know."

"I'll keep that in mind." He hung up the phone and turned to Laura. He gently pealed her fingers from the phone and hung it up. "Mildred's got everything taken care of." He grabbed up their overnight bag. "Let's go."

They headed out of the apartment and into the waiting limo. Laura still seemed to be in a daze. Remington called out, "To the airport Fred and we're in a big hurry so don't spare the rubber."

~ o ~

Mildred hung up her phone and frowned at it, muttering to herself. She didn't know what was going on but from the sound of Mr. Steele's voice, it was urgent and probably very serious. What have those kids gotten themselves into this time? Finally she shook herself and began getting dressed and ready for the day. She had already called Susan Claiborne to tell her that she would have to handle the office by herself this morning and that the bosses would be away for a few days.

Ever since the Kevin Masters dog napping case Mrs. Claiborne had found her short impromptu stint, as office manager, so exhilarating that she had asked to be taken on as temporary help. By now she was used fairly regularly and had become well enough trained to cover for Mildred in a pinch and, hopefully, by the time Mildred got her PI license, Mrs. Claiborne would be able to permanently fill her shoes.

Once Mildred was ready she got on the phone and spent the next hour locating a New York hotel close to Central Park and arranging a room for Remington and Laura. By the time that was done, Fred had returned with the limo and took her to the Steele's apartment where she packed up a week's worth of clothes for them both. She did a quick rundown in her mind and packed anything else she thought they might want.

Mildred finally arrived at the office with bags in tow and arranged to have them delivered to the Steele's hotel room by the next afternoon. Finally she got down to the business of running the agency in the Steele's absence.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes when the first case of the day turned out to be a stolen purebred dog. Why her?

_**Continued in Part 3**_

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"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	3. Downward Flight

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 3: Downward Flight**

**_7:40 am LA  
10:40 am NY_**

John Abbot, (at least that was the name he was using currently), leaned against the stairwell wall. He glanced at the label on the door as he caught his breath. **[** **Floor 8** **]**. They were almost halfway down but there was still a long way to go, especially in their current condition. He looked down at the red stain covering most of the lower right side of his shirt. He winced at the fire that shot through his side along the path of the bullet. At the rate he was bleeding he knew that he couldn't last very long. He looked back at the trail of blood spots that went up the stairway. No, not long at all. He glanced over at the woman that was leaning against the opposite wall. The bandage she had made from a torn strip of bed sheet had soaked through and the upper half of her left pants leg was stained with blood from her own bullet wound. Also she was limping pretty badly. She was staring back at him, her eyes showing pain, fear, and numbing shock. The thing that amazed him was that there was not even a hint of accusation in those eyes, even though he knew her situation was totally his fault.

The last three weeks had been a series of foolish blunders. The first one, of course, was getting involved with this woman. A man on the run should never get involved in romantic entanglements. But from the first moment he met her he was hooked. Everything about her reached out to him and drew him in. She was sweet, funny, exciting, very beautiful and very head strong. The next mistake was his use of the old alias of John Abbot. He should have known that, even after all this time, there might still be someone that remembered that name and would kill him on sight. He had even used an old credit card left from that time to buy groceries for a romantic dinner last week. He banged his fist against the wall in anger at himself. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! And even dumber was using that credit card that same day to buy some roses in the ground floor florist shop. He should have thrown that card away when he had abandoned that identity so many years ago.

Then yesterday there had been that unexplained inquiry. He should have left that same hour. He had even failed to maintain a full ammo clip, entering this ruckus with a half-empty clip in his gun and no idea how many rounds he had left. Misstep after misstep had left him exposed and vulnerable, and this wonderful woman was now paying for his mistakes.

Now he was about to knowingly make another mistake. All of his experience and training told him that he should abandon this woman. He could escape more easily on his own but her situation was his fault and he felt responsible for her safety. Besides, he already cared far too much for her to abandon her now. He could no more leave her behind than he could leave his own heart behind, so he would take her with him. Well at least he had taken out the bastard that had shot her, along with one other assassin. He had winged a third assassin but he wasn't sure how badly.

John took off his jacket and tore it into strips, then he proceeded to replace the soaked bandage on the woman's leg. There was no exit wound so the bullet was still in there. That would have to be dealt with. It would have to be removed as soon as possible. He then made a large pad and bound it to his own injured side. It wasn't much, and tying it off hurt like hell, but at least now they wouldn't be leaving a trail of blood for the others to follow. He again looked over the woman and felt an unaccustomed desire to protect her growing strong within him. She was such a lovely woman.

John looked again at his own bloody shirt and thought to himself, '_You're getting way too soft old man. You can't make any more mistakes and you're going to have to be twice as smart if you want to get both of us out of this mess alive._' He used what was left of his shredded jacket to sop up the excess blood then, after checking to be sure he was unobserved, he entered the hallway and dropped the tattered bloody rags into a trash container next to the elevator.

He momentarily considered trying to get help from one of the tenants on this floor but decided against it. First it would expose him to other problems. But, more importantly, it would make whoever helped him a target, especially with a bloody trail on the stairs leading to this floor. He just couldn't bring himself to expose any more people to that kind of danger. Quickly he returned to the stairwell.

Again he glanced over at his companion. She appeared to still be in a daze, moving almost without any volition of her own. He placed his arm around her. "Come on Abby old girl, we'll make it, as long as we have each other." He continued down the stairs drawing her unresistingly along with him.

Each step down the staircase jolted his side, sending another shot of pain through him. The fact that he was straining to help Abby remain upright only made it worse. Every time she grunted from the pain of her own wound, it hit him deep in his soul. One painful step at a time they made their way down the unending stairs. The trip seemed to be taking an eternity though he was moving them as fast as he could manage. They had to escape before the bad guys had time to regroup and come back after them again. He knew how much her leg must hurt, yet in spite of the pain, Abby never cried out. He could only marvel at her incredible strength of will.

Finally, painfully, they reached the ground floor landing. John gently leaned Abigail against the wall next to the door and indicated to her that she should be very quiet. Carefully and quietly he eased the door open just a crack and peered out into the building lobby. He saw three hard cases in view standing around in the lobby. One of them was holding a gun on the security guard at the front desk. Another was standing close to the elevator. The third was standing near the outside doors. All of them were currently facing away from the stairwell door. That escape route was cut off.

He carefully eased the door shut as the third man started turning back towards them, and then he popped the clip from his gun and checked it. Only two rounds left plus one in the chamber. That was better than he had expected, however, the odds were still too long. One miss and his lovely Abby would be lying dead next to him in a pool of their combined blood. If he had been on his own he probably would have chanced it, but there was no way he would risk the life of this woman, that he now admitted he had fallen for, on anything less than a certainty. Those were professional assassins and there was no chance that they would leave a live witness behind. He was pretty sure that the front desk guard would soon be dead and to his regret there was nothing he could do to prevent it. He looked down at the floor and the steps. At least, for the time being, they were no longer leaving a trail of blood.

With a sigh, John put his arm around Abigail. "Well, Abby, It looks like we're going to have to find another way out." To himself, John couldn't help wondering how many assassins there were. He had encountered a total of six, counting the three in the lobby. Somebody really wanted him dead in a bad way. He had enemies but this was a bit over the top.

The two of them continued down the stairwell to the next landing at the garage level. As before he let her rest against the wall and eased the door open a crack. This way was also blocked by three more of the enemy. They were so close that he was sure they would hear when he closed the door. He was trying to figure out how to close the stairwell door without alerting the assassins when the automatic garage door began to open. The three assassins all ducked into the shadows and John used the momentary distraction to quickly close the door.

There were nine men in that hit squad! Who could he have pissed off that badly or who could be that important to send a nine man hit team after him. This was getting totally out of hand. Again he put his arm around Abigail and they continued further down to the last landing. This opened into a very crowded storage basement. He knew that there was no way out from here, but it did offer a large number of possible places to hide.

Carefully, he worked their way through the eclectic collection of castoffs, and storage bins. Abigail was finally becoming a little bit more animated which meant that the shock of what had happened was starting to wear off. That was both good and bad. She tried to help them along but her leg was badly injured and it made her clumsy. Once she whimpered when she brushed her leg against a large crate. Twice they stumbled over some loose bit of refuge and tumbled to the ground. Both times he banged himself pretty good because he was trying to cushion her fall to prevent Abigail from being injured any more than she already was. The second time they fell he knew he had cracked a rib. Once they dropped down intentionally when they heard the elevator doors open but there was no one there.

John finally managed to get them to the most remote corner of the basement and they stopped to rest. With a groan of pain, Abigail leaned back against a large wooden crate next to the wall. The chest high crate shifted under her weight causing her to give a startled cry. John placed his hand on her shoulder. "Abby what happened?" Then he noticed the edge of some type of metal frame sticking out about an inch past the edge of the large wooden crate. "This looks interesting." He commented as he crouched painfully down to get a closer look.

After a moment John shakily stood back up with a groan. He placed his hands on the crate and pushed. The crate moved far more easily than it should have and when John checked, he found a hatchway in the wall behind it. "What have we got here?" He asked himself under his breath then, with another groan, again kneeled down to inspect the hatch. The side of the crate facing the wall was open and the crate was empty. He easily opened the hatch and stuck his head through the opening. He found himself looking down an eight foot wide, ten foot deep shaft with metal ladder rungs embedded into the wall next to the doorway like giant staples. John released a soft sigh of relief. Maybe they had finally stumbled onto a bit of good luck. He painfully withdrew his head from the opening and looked up at his companion. He noticed that there was more life in her eyes now which indicated that the shock was wearing off. He had to get them to help soon before another type of shock, brought on by the loss of too much blood, overtook them.

"Come on Abby, old girl. We're almost there. All we need to do is get down that shaft and I think we will be home free."

"Sure, John, I'm all right. Lead the way." Despite what she said, the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice told him that she wasn't doing well. She was hurt, weak and scared but was doing her best to put up a brave front for him. He found himself feeling very proud of this remarkable woman's grit and determination. It had been her initial warning that had kept them alive up there in his apartment. It had given him time to react. He just wished that he could have been a little quicker. Unfortunately the slow creep of age had begun to catch up with him and he just wasn't as good as he used to be.

Despite their condition they both managed to get safely down the ladder to the bottom of the shaft. Then he realized that they had left the hatch open. How stupid. He couldn't afford any more mistakes like that. With an audible groan, he climbed back up to close it. The climb back up seemed three times as far as the climb down had been. He carefully shifted the wooden crate back into position so that it covered the opening then he closed the hatch. He figured that it would take a very careful search to figure out where they had gone. It was only through ridiculously incredible good luck that he had found this concealed access.

On the climb back down John found himself wondering who had built that hidden doorway and lost his grip almost falling. He was a lot more tired than he thought and he was letting his mind wander. Once back down John peered across the small room they found at the bottom of the shaft. He couldn't see very far because his view was obscured by a brilliant beam of light from above. Looking up, he was unable to discern the source of the light. Possibly it was an airshaft to the surface. Cautiously they made their way through the light and across the room to the other side. On the far side of that small room was a brick wall with a man sized hole bashed through it. On the other side of the hole was a tunnel that went left and right. After peering both ways he checked the ground. The dust to the left appeared to be thick and relatively undisturbed but the dust to the right was much thinner and showed definite signs of recent passage.

He had no way of knowing where this tunnel would lead them but it was better than staying back there where the assassins might find them. The fact that the floor showed signs of recent passage meant that there was probably someone down here. That meant that there was the possibility of finding help and, right now, that was what they needed the most.

With a sigh of resignation John put his arm around Abby's waist and turned them both to the right. Being careful of her injured leg, he started them off down the tunnel.

_**Continued in Part 4**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	4. Steele Flying

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 4: Steele Flying**

**_8:10 am LA  
11:10 am NY_**

The sound of approaching sirens disturbed the three assassins in the lobby, then one of the assassins that had gone upstairs burst from the stairway door, bloody and out of breath. "He killed the others and got away!" Was all he could get out between gasping breaths.

The assassin next to the front desk shot the security guard in the back then they all headed for the garage level. The get-away van was there waiting for them along with the other three men. They all piled into the van and drove out of the building just five seconds ahead of the arrival of the police cars.

As the police rushed into the lobby, they heard groaning and found the severely wounded security guard on the floor behind the front desk. He managed to gasp out, "thirteenth floor." before he lost consciousness. Two of the officers took the elevator while the second pair headed up the stairs. The third pair stayed in the lobby and called for an ambulance.

On the thirteenth floor they found one dead body in the hallway outside of apartment 13C. The initial 911 call had come from 13A. Through the open door they could see a second body inside the apartment. There was blood everywhere. The police were able to follow the trail of blood down the stairs to the eighth floor where it got much lighter. From there they followed it to the lobby then to the garage level.

Just as the ambulance pulled away with the injured security guard, the detectives arrived.

~ o ~

**_8:55 am LA_**

Lara and Remington arrived at the air terminal just as the speakers announced boarding for their flight. Laura felt antsy and kept pacing while Remington went up to the counter to retrieve their tickets. As soon as he got back they boarded the plane. All the while Laura kept saying, "How could this be happening?" over and over like it was a mantra.

Remington put his arm around her to comfort her. "I'm sure your mother is just fine, Laura."

"You didn't hear those gunshots." She responded. "I did."

He set her down in her seat and made her look at him. "We don't know for sure what happened. Let's not go borrowing trouble until we get there and see for ourselves." He picked up their one carry-on and placed it in the overhead storage then he sat down in the seat next to her. "You always tell me that a good detective doesn't guess. He waits until he has all the facts, then he. . . or she. . . can make educated intelligent deductions."

"Deductions be damned." She glared at him. "That was my mother being shot at."

"All the more reason to get all the facts before you go haring off and possibly make things worse." He touched her chin. "First let's just get there, then we'll see for ourselves what the situation is."

She gave in to his insistent logic and tried to relax. The seatbelt sign went on and the plane started to move. The seatbelt felt so constraining to her that she unbuckled it.

"Ma'am, you need to fasten your seatbelt." The stewardess was staring down at her patiently waiting for her to comply.

Surrendering to the inevitable, she refastened her seatbelt and again tried to relax. At least these first class seats were reasonably comfortable. Once it had been established that Remington had inherited some money as well as that old castle, he had put most of it into the agency making it easier to maintain the upscale appearance and lifestyle. Despite his shadowy past he had more than lived up to the image she had created for the fictitious head of her detective agency, bringing that paragon of virtue to life. For all intents he was Remington Steele and the agency had prospered. She had ceased to think of it as her agency. Now it was their agency.

She was pushed back into the seat as the plane lifted off. She was so glad to have his steadying influence right now as her hand stole into his.

After about an hour Laura couldn't sit still any longer. She needed to do, to act, even if there was nothing she really could do until they reached New York. She got up and began to move around supposedly to explore the plane but in reality she just needed to walk off the built-up nervous energy. It also helped her to get her mind partially distracted from the real worry about her mother.

Remington watched his wife's actions with resigned indulgence. He understood what was driving her and sympathized. Laura's mother tended to drive her crazy but she still loved her and right now she was worried and scared. Finally she came back to her seat and got on the sky-phone, another of the advantages of first class, and called her sister.

"Hi Frances it's Laura. Have you heard from mother lately.". . .

"I don't suppose she has mentioned anyone named John has she?". . .

"No, nothing important.". . .

"I'm on the plane to New York." . . .

"I'm hoping to meet Mother there.". . .

"I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"No luck?" Remington asked.

"Frances hasn't heard from Mother in over a month."

After a few more minutes of fidgeting, Laura jumped up and went up stairs to the bar in the lounge, another perk of first class, and got herself a glass of wine. Remington came up a few minutes later and joined her.

"I know how worried you are but you have to have faith in your mother." Remington took her hand, drew it up and kissed it. "She will be OK."

"You didn't hear what I heard." Her eyes glinted with the tears she was holding back. "I heard the gunshots." She gulped. "There was pain in Mother's voice when she cried out." Try as she could, Laura couldn't ignore that pained cry that was in the last word she had heard from her mother.

Remington touched her cheek. "You forget, Love. I know your mother. Remember that time she helped Daniel and I pull off that scam? She handled herself very well."

Laura looked into his face. There was a desperate need for hope in her eyes. "I remember." She barely whispered her response.

Remington pushed his point. "Laura your mother is smart, resourceful, daring, and tough, much like her lovely daughter. She has come a long way from the woman you remember back when your father left." He saw the memory of that time pass across her face. "Like you, she can handle herself in a crisis. I have faith in her. She **will** be OK." He smiled. "And I'm sure she will have quite a tall tale to tell next time we see her."

Laura took a sip of her wine. He did have the knack for making her feel better and she couldn't really argue with anything he had said. She couldn't help worrying but at least he had given her hope.

~ o ~

Amanda was sitting at her desk at Q branch sifting through some case files looking for any common element. For eight months they had been pursuing the elusive spy ring case with no significant results. The phone rang and she absentmindedly picked it up, her mind on the files

"I.F.F., Amanda King."

"Amanda dear, are you OK?" It was her mother's voice.

"I'm fine mother. Why?" She was curious and just a bit worried now.

"I don't know. It's just that for the last hour I've had this strange feeling that something was terribly wrong."

"Well there are no problems here, mother." She replied to her mother, however she was thinking, '_except that I can find no common link in these case files_.' But that had nothing to do with her mother.

"OK, I'll see you when you get home tonight." Her mother responded. "You have a good day, and be careful, dear."

"Fine Mother, see you then. Goodbye." She hung up the phone.

Lee looked up from his desk where he was engaged in the same exercise as her. "Is anything wrong?"

"No, that was mother having one of her feelings." Amanda shook her head.

"Feelings?" Lee inquired.

"Every once and a while mother will get a feeling that something isn't quite right. I don't think any of them have ever panned out. She once described it as being like something was happening to some part of her that is missing or lost." Amanda shrugged. "Then she starts calling all the relatives to see if anything is wrong." She went back to her files.

Lee chuckled and returned to his files.

~ o ~

Catherine Chandler was sitting at her desk working on the Burton case when Rita came up to her. "Cathy, have you heard? There has been a shooting in your apartment building. I just got the preliminary report to enter into the database."

"No, this is the first I've heard about it." Catherine was immediately interested. "What do we know?"

"Not much yet." Rita replied. "There was a shootout on the thirteenth floor. Several shots fired. Two dead, and the security guard was seriously injured. A trail of blood down the stairs to the lobby and the garage. That's all so far."

"Thanks Rita. Can you get me a copy?" Catherine asked.

"Knew you'd ask. Got it right here." She replied as she handed a printout to Catherine.

Catherine took the report of the shootings and opened a case file then went into Joe's office. Joe decided to send her out to talk to her neighbors (they would be more likely to talk freely to her).

~ o ~

After Laura's second glass of wine, Remington was able to coax her into going back to their seats. He kept talking to her trying to get her to rest. The wine was starting to affect her and he was finally able to get her to stretch out on her seat and the empty one next to her. She laid her head on his lap as he continued to talk to her in his most soothing voice. He finally got a chuckle out of her when he started singing a little ditty about McNamara's band. Slowly he felt her body begin to relax.

Remington's efforts finally bore fruit and she had fallen into a fitful sleep. He stared down at her compact form stretched out on the two seats next to him as he gently stroked her head in his lap. He wouldn't admit it to her but he was really worried.

_**Continued in Part 5**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._


	5. Investigation

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 5: Investigation**

**_10:00 am LA  
1:00 pm NY_**

The first thing Catherine noticed when she arrived at her apartment building was that Rudy was missing from the front desk and there were two uniformed police officers watching over the lobby. She identified herself and was directed to the thirteenth floor. On the thirteenth floor she met two more officers that directed her to 13C.

The younger of the two detectives greeted her. "Miss Chandler, why is the DA's office here? We haven't even filed a preliminary report yet."

"I got the initial dispatch report." She looked down at the covered body on the floor. "I also live in this building and I thought I could assist in the interviews." She then gave him a quick rundown on all of the tenants on floors twelve through fourteen. She scanned the scene then addressed the detective. "It looks like World War Three in here. What have you learned so far?"

"This looks to be a professional hit. There are no ID's on the two dead men and all the labels have been removed from their clothing. Also the serial numbers have been filed off their weapons. There are no fingerprints on them either." Catherine gave him a quizzical look and he elaborated. "The ends of their fingers have been sanded smooth so that they will leave no fingerprints. The forensics guys may be able to lift prints from the underlying skin layer though."

"Did you get anything from the front desk guard?" She asked hopefully.

"According to the first officers on the scene, all he said was 'thirteenth floor' before he lost consciousness." He paused for a second, noticing the concerned look on her face, then answered her next question before she could ask. "The E.M.T's said that his condition is serious but stable and there is a good chance he will pull through." By the look of relief on Catherine's face he knew he had guessed right.

"Has anyone checked the security-cam tapes yet?" She asked him.

"What?" He asked in surprise. No one had said anything about security cameras and he had seen no security monitors.

Catherine smiled. "They're brand new. The cameras and the tape machine were installed two weeks ago. The monitors were defective and we're waiting for the replacements to come in. That's why there were no monitors at the front desk, in case you were wondering."

The detective smiled. "If we're lucky, maybe the assassins didn't know either and the tapes will still be there." He touched her elbow. "Let's go check it out. Do you know where the tape machine is?" He asked as they started towards the door.

"Of course, they're in the storage closet next to the elevators." She replied.

The Detective called over his shoulder as they passed through the door. "Greg, I'm going to the lobby to check out a promising lead. I'll be down there if you need me." Then he addressed Catherine. "How do you know so much about this building?"

"I own it." She carefully stepped around the covered body in the hall. "When my father died the insurance paid off the mortgage and I inherited it." She felt a moment of sadness as she thought about her father then continued. "I have a management company running the place but I try to keep abreast of what they are doing. Also some of the tenants know that I own the place and they let me know what's going on. The security cameras were my idea." She pressed the elevator call button. "Has anyone heard from Peter yet?"

"Who's Peter?"

"Peter Blair. He's the tenant in 13C. Very quiet type. Early fifties. Tended to keep to himself. I'll have the management company send you a copy of his records."

They stepped into the elevator and as the door closed he asked, "Do you know anything about an Abigail Holt?"

"No. Who is she?" Catherine inquired as she pressed the ground floor button.

"We found her purse in the apartment. She had a California ID."

Catherine thought a moment then responded. "There were rumors that Peter had been seen with a nice looking woman about his age recently but that's all I know."

"A Mrs. Frances Piper is listed as the person to contact in case of an emergency."

Catherine glanced over at the young detective. "Have you contacted her yet?"

He shrugged. "Not yet."

"After we check the tapes we can call her and see if she has heard anything."

When they reached the lobby Catherine pointed out the two lobby cameras. One was above the mailboxes between the elevators pointed towards the front doors. The other one was in the clock above the outside doors and pointed towards the elevators. Although not invisible, both cameras were unnoticeable to any normal observer.

"The other two cameras are located on the garage levels." She told him.

"Levels?" He glanced up at the elevator location indicator lights then looked at her in surprise. "The elevator and stairs only show one garage."

"That's because the stairs and elevators are located where the ramps from the two levels join up with the outside access ramp. So only one stop." She explained.

They entered the storage closet. Inside a cabinet by the door were four tape machines with the tapes in them and still running. They scanned through the tapes. They saw seven men enter the front door and stop to talk to the security guard. When he reached for the phone they pulled guns and took control of the lobby. Then two of them entered the stairs. Both elevators were used by two others; one went up and the other went down. The remaining three took positions around the lobby.

The man that went down entered the garage and triggered the outside automatic door, allowing a dark van to enter. Two men got out of the van and the three of them took up positions in the garage. For a while nothing happened, then one of the men that went upstairs burst out of the stairwell door into the lobby. He appeared to be shot. The man that had stayed near Rudy, the security man, is the one that shot him. The four assassins took the stairs to the garage and they all piled into the van and left.

Catherine stopped the tapes then backed up the garage tape that showed the van. She restarted that tape from the moment when the van appeared at the opened entry door and then paused it when the van was closest to the camera. She studied the image while mumbling under her breath. "D . . . ah, 5 or 6 . . . B . . . or 8 . . . um, can't make that out . . . The next two numbers are just too blurry . . . The last digit is ether a 1 or an I." She shook her head. "Sorry Detective, that's the best I can do from this image."

The detective shook his head. "I see no reason to apologize, Miss Chandler. You've given us tons of information we wouldn't have had. We now know how many of them there are and what they look like. We know the make, model and color of the van they were in and we have a partial plate number. I'll call in the info on the van now and maybe we'll get lucky."

While the detective was calling in the information she continue ed the tapes. They showed that the police entered the building a hair under a minute after the van pulled out of the garage and three minutes later two police officers entered the garage. Catherine then backed the four tapes to the point where the assassins had first entered the building. She popped out the tapes and handed them to the detective.

"Well that was interesting." The detective was frowning as he took the tapes. "A nine man professional hit squad to take out one fifty year old man." He shook his head. "And apparently they still underestimated. Two of them killed, one wounded and this Peter character somehow managed to escape with the woman without being seen." He scratched his head. "But where did they go? All of the possible exits are covered by your new security cameras." He waved the four tapes. "I'm sending these to the C.S.I. Lab for analysis. Maybe they can get some more information from them. There is a chance that they can make out the rest of the van license number."

Catherine responded to him with a request. "Can you have copies made and sent to my office?"

"That shouldn't be a problem." He nodded. "Now let's see what we can learn from this Frances woman."

When they called Frances, she informed them that Abigail was her mother and that she had not heard from her in a little over a month. She told them that she had not heard of a Peter Blair and asked what this was all about. She was told that they were looking for Abigail as a possible witness and to please call the New York DA's office if she heard anything.

After that Catherine went around with the detective interviewing the tenants on floors twelve, thirteen and fourteen. Her presence seemed to reassure them and they were much more forthcoming with information. From this the detective concluded that there was a reason why she had a reputation for being able to get witnesses to open up.

After the second time a tenant made reference to the ghost, the detective requested clarification. He was told about the building's haunted elevators. He noticed an almost mischievous gleam in Catherine's eyes during the tenant's story and suspected that she knew more about it that he was being told. What he didn't know was that Catherine suspected that Vincent might be the source of the various phenomena that were ascribed to the ghost.

Three of the tenants had actually heard the gunshots but only one called 911. The other two had not wanted to get involved. The rest had heard or seen nothing of importance. They also looked over the thirteenth floor maintenance closet door that had been nearly destroyed, looking for clues.

The detective mentioned the way the blood trail had dropped off dramatically on the eighth floor landing so they interviewed all the tenants on that floor. No one had seen or heard anything. They did search the entire floor and found the bloody rags stuffed in the trash by the elevator. They searched the elevator shaft but found no sign of the two missing people there either. Then they went up and checked the roof. Also no luck. A quick floor by floor check of all of the apartments finally established that they were nowhere inside the building. Catherine was itching to check the basement more thoroughly but she didn't want the police to find the secret tunnel access so she decided to do it when she got home that night.

Once the interviews were done Catherine headed back to the office to report to Joe Maxwell what she had learned. After that she filled out and filed reports on her interviews. At about quitting time four video tapes were delivered to her desk. She locked them in a drawer and went home for the evening.

_**Continued in Part 6**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	6. Lost in Wonderland

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 6: Lost in Wonderland**

**_11:00 am LA  
2:00 pm NY_**

Vincent's head shot up from the book he was reading as he listened to the staccato clang of the message currently coming from the pipes. One of the messages the tunnel dwellers feared most was racing up and down the pipes. "**INTRUDER ALERT**." The message stated that the intrusion came from the southwest near the Maze.

As Vincent grabbed up his hooded cloak, he wondered how the intruder got in. There were no known surface entrances in that direction. He knew the entrance couldn't be in the maze itself because it was beyond the western shoreline, just north of the Lincoln Tunnel beneath the Channel which accounted for the constant water seepage and instability that made the tunnels very treacherous in that area. The Lincoln Tunnel? Could there be an unknown access there? He would have to check that out later, after he dealt with the intruder. If there was an entrance there, it was going to be very hard to find. The constant traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel would make it impossible for him to go in there to search but he was going to have to find and seal that opening. Maybe he could get help from Catherine and some of the helpers.

Further messages eased tension a bit. The intruders appeared to be a man and a woman wandering near the south east part of the maze. They both appeared to be injured. Vincent headed off to where he could intercept them if they got too close or got into trouble. He still remembered the time he and Father got caught in a cave-in there. It was Mouse and Catherine that had found a way in and saved them.

~ o ~

John carefully studied their surroundings. This tunnel looked just like the last tunnel and the one before that and the one before that. At first he had simply followed the signs of previous passage. The trail got more confusing and harder to follow as the level of available light had diminished. Then they come to that long stone stairway that had led to an area where he was unable to see the floor clearly in the dim light and next time he got a good look at the floor the dust was undisturbed. He tried to turn back but after walking far longer than he knew they had traveled, he admitted to himself that they were lost.

They had been wandering for what seemed like hours now. All the tunnels appeared to be cut through solid rock and seemed to be natural rather than man made. It was cool and very damp here. The walls seemed to sweat and there were occasional puddles on the floor. He didn't like this. He wasn't a cave expert but he knew that all this moisture could make the tunnels unstable. He prayed that they didn't get caught in a cave-in or a flood.

John could feel the chill slowly creeping into his bones and he could tell by Abigail's shivering that she was feeling it too. The thing was, he wasn't sure how much of it was due to the tunnel air and how much was due to the loss of blood. Abby's wound appeared to have stopped bleeding but his continued to seep.

John began talking to Abigail to try to keep her spirits up and to try to explain himself to her. "Abby, I'm sure you've realized by now that I'm not who you thought I am."

Abby looked up at him with a wan smile. "I was beginning to suspect that." He thought he caught a definite hint of humor in her voice.

"I'm sorry I got you into this and I'm going to get you out of it if it's the last thing I do." He was dead serious as he made this pronouncement. He would get her to safety or die trying.

"John, I've known since yesterday that you were in some kind of trouble. That's why I called my daughter in Los Angeles this morning. She is a very good private detective and her boss . . . husband now . . . is the very best there is. I knew that they could help us no matter what the problem." She stumbled and let out a little whimper of pain.

John held on to her to keep her from falling. "Abby, are you going to be OK?" He was getting concerned. She was definitely getting weaker and her limp had gotten much worse.

Abigail tried valiantly to steady herself. "I'm OK, John. Let's just keep going."

John knew she was lying but he kept moving. It was the only thing they could do. He looked around. They were at another one of those damnable unending junctions, just like all the others they had passed through. He had no idea which way to go next. He was just about to go eeny, meeny, miney moe out of sheer desperation, when he became aware of the noise. It was a faint irregular clanging sound that seemed to be coming from somewhere up ahead.

"John, am I hearing things?" Abigail asked. "What is that banging noise?"

John held up his hand. "Hush Abby, I hear it too . . . Listen."

They became very quiet as they both listened. The noise had an uneven staccato like pattern and seemed to come and go randomly. To John it sounded like someone banging out Morse code messages on metal pipes except that there were very few recognizable characters and the messages seemed to be too short. If it was a code then it was a private one that had a lot of shorthand sequences in it. He did catch the words "fresh eggs" spelled out in standard Morse code.

John pointed down the left hand tunnel. "It seems to be coming from that direction." Then he started them walking in that direction. "We may have finally gotten a break Abby my girl. Coded messages mean people and people means help."

At the next junction the sound was very definitely coming from the tunnel branching to the right. That tunnel opened out into a tunnel that was much more regular in shape and there were some pipes running along the wall. The sound was definitely coming from one of those pipes. Now they were getting somewhere. Somewhere along that pipe they would find the person that was doing the banging. But which direction? After a few moments John just picked a direction and started moving.

Twice they had to stop and rest. Their waning reserves were running out and there was very little time left for either of them. John began to concentrate on the messages to get his mind off of their very desperate situation. After a few minutes he began to recognize subtle differences in the style of messages. He decided that different styles indicated different messengers, like differences in handwriting. Also he began to notice certain sequences that seemed to be repeated, like a common word or phrase. Once or twice he would catch a string of recognizable letters forming words but most of it was unintelligible.

The tunnel took a right turn as the pipes disappeared into the wall and John found himself looking into the same maze like area that they had just left. Not that way. Not again. Without a word he turned them around and headed back the way they had come. Soon they passed the place where they had entered this tunnel. As they continued along John noticed that they were headed slightly uphill and the walls in this area were dryer and felt more solid than the area they had just left. That alone made him feel confident that they were finally headed in the right direction.

Shortly after they passed the spot where the tunnel began to rise there was a sudden shift in the sound of the banging. It had taken on a feel of urgency. Also it kept repeating the same sequence over and over. After about a minute the message changed again, becoming more complex and at a lower level of urgency. "I wonder what that was all about?" He asked the walls around him.

By now they were both leaning against the wall and staggering pretty badly but they kept on going. He could tell that Abby was nearly spent and he knew that they were fast running out of time. "Come on old girl, just a little farther." He encouraged her.

Out of the gloom ahead came a strong commanding voice. "Stop where you are."

John could barely make out a large hooded figure ahead of them. Whoever he was, he was huge, at least six and a half feet tall and very powerfully built. John instinctively pulled his gun while pushing Abby behind himself. He had to protect her.

Vincent could clearly sense the smell of blood from the couple in front of him. Then he saw the gun. Roaring Vincent sprang forward knocking gun out of the man's hand and knocking him down.

John never had a chance to react, the stranger moved so fast. He saw his gun go flying through the air as he felt the stranger's massive weight collide with him, knocking him over. The last impression he had was of loud roaring combined with deadly sharp fangs and claws. Then the darkness overtook him.

As the stranger leaped forward, knocking John down, his hood fell back from his head. His face was a perfect match to the roar he had just produced and both were terrifying. Abby screamed, backed up against the wall, and stared in horror. The creature looked over at her its eyes seeming to pierce her very soul. She felt the thudding of her heart and the blood roaring in her ears, and then everything went gray, finally fading to black as she collapsed, unconscious.

~ o ~

Remington looked down at Laura as she slept. He prayed that they would find Abigail safe and sound. He had developed a great deal of fondness and respect for his wife's mother and he knew that, despite her protestations, Laura really did love her mother and would be devastated by her loss.

Laura started getting restless in her sleep then she woke up with a start, calling out for her mother. As she sat there badly shaken, Remington could see the fear in her eyes and put his arms around her to comfort her. Once she had gotten a hold of herself, he asked her what had happened.

"I dreamed that mother was in some kind of cave and was attacked by a lion." She was still trembling as she spoke in a shaky voice. "The sound of its roaring was horrible." She got a confused look on her face then looked slightly embarrassed. "It was all so unfocused but I swear the lion was walking on two legs and wearing clothes." She shook her head. "But it all felt so real.

"Well it was only a dream, Love. Lions don't wear clothes or walk on two legs." He smiled at her. We should be in New York in just a few more hours. Then we'll get to the bottom of this."

Of course he was right and it was a silly dream but she couldn't get it out of her mind. After a while Laura became aware of a faraway look on Remington's face. "What are you thinking about?" She asked.

He shrugged. "Just remembering that last time we came to New York together. Remember what happened when we got back?"

"How can I forget? Everyone thought we were murdered and detective Jarvis arrested Mildred for it." She replied.

"Yes, just shows what happens when you act without knowing all the details." He raised his eyebrows at her.

Laura poked him in the side. "You set me up for that one." But he had gotten his point across. She relaxed a little and leaned into his embrace. He sure knew her well and she had learned to trust his instincts.

~ o ~

Vincent looked down at the two unconscious figures. Cullen and Jamie came up behind him carrying a stretcher. The messages had said they were injured. Vincent checked their pulses. Both were very weak but they still lived. Vincent picked up the gun while they placed the man on the stretcher. Then he picked up the woman and they all headed back to the Central chambers.

By the time they got to the infirmary Father and Peter were both already there. They worked on the man first since he was in more serious shape. Meanwhile, Vincent did what he could for the woman, cleaning her wound and preparing her for surgery. After a while Father came in. With Vincent's help, he removed the bullet; there had been significant internal bleeding from a nicked vein. He repaired the vein and then he stitched up her wound. Then he went back to help Peter.

As Vincent covered the unknown woman with a warm blanket he thought that this would certainly make interesting telling when he went up to see Catherine tonight. Then all his thoughts were on Catherine and he smiled at his own eagerness to see her this evening. Maybe she could help him find out who these two strangers were and what had happened to them.

_**Continued in Part 7**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	7. Storm Clouds Gathering Collecting Data

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 7: Storm Clouds Gathering - Collecting Data**

**_7:25 pm NY  
4:25 pm LA_**

As soon as she got home, Catherine called the hospital to see how the security guard was doing and found herself connected to the young detective. First he thanked her for her help and cooperation in the investigation.

"I got the management report on Peter Blair. It said that he had paid for two years in advance in cash." He reported.

"I didn't know that." She responded. "An entire two year lease is a pretty large chunk of change." She paused. "That will definitely require looking into. Have you anything on the condition of the front desk security guard?"

"Yes, I just talked to the doctor and he said that Rudy will be OK. He was incredibly lucky. The bullet glanced off a rib and passed between the heart and the aorta, barely nicking both. It stopped against the breast bone. What should have been instant death turned out to be relatively minor and according to the doctor easily repaired with just a dozen stitches. The doctor even let me talk to him for a few minutes."

Catherine was relieved. She had always liked Rudy. "Did he have anything useful to tell you?"

"He said that yesterday was the first time he had ever seen Peter Blair bring a guest to his room. The woman apparently spent the night." The detective paused. "He also said that the gunmen were trying to pass themselves off as repairmen. They had forged work orders to upgrade the circuit breaker boxes. They pulled guns when he tried to call the management company to verify the work request. They even knew about the silent alarm under the desk. He said they shot him when they heard the sirens approaching."

"Thanks for the info detective and if I turn up anything useful I'll pass it on to you. Goodbye." She hung up and turned towards her balcony door where she heard a sharp tapping against the glass.

~ o ~

As soon as they got off the plane in New York, Laura and Remington headed straight to the nearest phone and called Mildred. "What have you got for us?" Laura asked.

"Well first off, your sister Frances called. She said the New York District Attorney called her and asked if she had heard from her mother recently." Mildred consulted a notebook on her desk. "I have a source in the New York PD that told me that there was a major shootout in the apartment building at the address Benny gave you and that the police found two dead bodies in the apartment." Laura gave a sharp intake of breath as her heart jumped. "The report states that it appeared to have been a professional hit." Laura felt her knees go weak, buckling beneath her. "That's all I have."

Remington observed Laura's reaction to Mildred's report and caught her. He took the phone from her nerveless hand.

There was silence for a second. "Miss holt?" Mildred started to feel panicked. "Hello?"

"Remington here, Mildred. Laura is just a little upset right now. Tell me where we're staying and I'll call you back for a complete report after we're settled."

Mildred gave him the name and address of the hotel she had booked them into. Remington thanked her and hung up.

~ o ~

Catherine opened the French doors and threw her arms around Vincent. Soon they were engaged in a fairly passionate kiss. This was a recent development in their relationship and Catherine took every opportunity to take advantage of it.

When they came up for air Vincent remarked with a toothy grin. "I definitely like this new closeness between us."

She responded. "So do I. But then you already know that." She grinned back. "So how was your day?"

Vincent chuckled. "Actually it got pretty exciting down there today. We had a couple of intruders."

Catherine felt a quick stab of worry. "Is everything all right?" Intruders Below always carried the possibility of disaster for the tunnel community.

"Everything is fine." He reassured her. "We found a man and a woman wandering in the tunnels near the maze, both were shot and suffering from massive blood loss. The man was carrying this gun." Vincent pulled a gun out of one of his pockets and handed it to her. "They are both currently unconscious but stable. Peter was Below giving out flu shots when they showed up. He and Father were able to patch them both up and it looks like they will live."

"Hold on a second." Catherine ran into her living room, set down the gun and picked up a Xerox copy of Abigail's driver's license. What she was thinking seemed unlikely but it was the only logical explanation. She sprinted back to Vincent who was standing at her doorway. "Is this the woman?"

Vincent looked at the picture for a couple of seconds. "It sure looks like her." Vincent pulled a wallet out of another pocket. "The woman didn't have anything on her. All the man had on him, besides the gun, was this." He handed the wallet to Catherine. "What is this about?"

"There was a shootout in an apartment on the thirteenth floor. The man that lives there and this woman both disappeared. No one could figure out where they went." She checked the contents of the wallet then looked up at Vincent. "This all says John Abbot. The man in apartment 13C is named Peter Blair." She examined the picture on the ID. "I just can't tell for sure from this picture but it looks like it could be the same guy."

"Why don't you come below and see him for yourself." Vincent suggested. There was a hint of a grin on his face.

"That's a good idea. Now give me a kiss and I'll meet you at the tunnel entrance." Catherine entered his embrace and collected her kiss.

They separated and Vincent went over the balcony then climbed quickly up out of sight. Catherine passed through her apartment grabbing her flashlight and coat on her way out. She quickly descended the stairs to the basement and made her way to the hidden tunnel entrance. She noticed a handprint in dried blood on the crate that concealed the entrance. That pretty well proved her suppositions. When she got to the bottom of the embedded rungs, Vincent was there waiting. After collecting another kiss, they both headed for the infirmary at the center of the community, somewhere under Central Park.

~ o ~

**_8:45 pm NY_**

Laura and Remington entered Catherine's building acting just slightly tipsy. For Laura the unsteadiness was more from her own emotional turmoil than any acting. They both noticed the absence of a security guard at the front desk and the presence of a uniformed police officer. He asked them who they were and what their business was.

Remington gave the officer a half smile. "We're the Pepplers . . . She's a Peppler, I'm a Peppler . . . wouldn't you like to be a Peppler too?" He stood there swaying and snickering while he caught a quick glance of the mailboxes between the elevators. "We're here for the Burrton's party, 15B. Why are you here?" He peered a little closer letting the officer smell the alcohol he had gargled with just before entering the building.

The officer backed up a step. "OK, go ahead."

Once in the elevator Remington made several wobbly attempts to press the button before getting the right one. In the process he had managed to hit number 13.

On thirteen a quick check showed that there were no police present. The appropriate apartment was easy to locate by the police tape across the door and the tape outline on the floor in front of it. Laura stared down at the outline for several seconds, her whole body trembling.

Remington stepped up to Laura and put his arm around her waist as he studied the outline for a moment. Then he tightened his hold on her as he spoke. "Six foot tall at least." He shook his head. "No one that we're interested in." He took her hand and led her to the apartment door. "Let's get inside and see what we can learn."

Getting herself under control with some difficulty, Laura kneeled down and picked the lock. They entered the apartment and gave the place a quick once over. Remington could feel her hand tighten in his as she stared at the new outline on the floor inside the apartment.

Remington studied it a few moments then squeezed her hand back as he remarked. "Also too tall."

Laura breathed a sigh of relief as she looked away from the outline and glanced about the room. She froze and caught her breath again when she spotted a bloodstain on the floor next to the fallen phone.

Remington noticed where she was looking. He already knew that Laura's mother had been on the phone when the shooting started. He took her arms and forced her to look at him. "Laura, your mother is not here. The report said **two** dead and we just saw that neither of them could be your mother. We must assume that she is still alive and has escaped."

Laura leaned against him drawing on his strength and his love for her. It helped her regain her equilibrium and soon she was feeling a little more reassured. "I'm not really sure what we should be looking for in here. I know the police have already searched the place pretty thoroughly." Laura remarked looking around doubtfully. "What could we find that they didn't?"

"Don't think like a policeman, Laura. They would be looking for evidence in a fairly obvious crime. They would be looking for things dropped, things left behind." Remington smiled. "Think like a con man. Where would you hide things you wouldn't want others to find? Where would you hide your secrets?"

For the next hour they searched in their own unique fashion. Remington checked a few hiding places that he had often used in the past to store his various passports." He pulled out every drawer in the place and looked underneath. Then he checked under every flat surface he could find. He checked inside food containers.

Laura looked in, under and around every other piece of furniture in the place. When she checked inside the toilet she found a water tight bag containing two boxes of ammunition and a couple of thousand in cash.

Remington sat on the bed defeated and looked blankly around. Finally with a determined look on his face he began examining each drawer very carefully. With a triumphant "Ah Ha!" he pulled out four passports he found under the false bottom of a drawer.

Laura came over and he called out the names on each as he examined them. "John Abbot of Canada . . . Peter Blair of the US . . . Paul Cartwright of the US . . . Joe Dawson of Great Britton." He held them up. "Now we have a place to start." He placed them into his coat pocket.

"Good Lord, was mother mixed up with a con man?" Laura asked incredulous.

Remington gave her his most mischievous smile. "Like daughter, like mother."

~ x x x x x ~

_**Continued in Part 8**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

___V.12.04.06_


	8. Storm Clouds Gathering Intersection

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 8: Storm Clouds Gathering - Intersection  
**

**_Morning NY (Day 2)_**

Catherine approached Rita at her computer terminal as soon as she got into the office. "Good morning Rita. How are you doing today?"

Rita glanced up at Catherine. She recognized that cheerful tone. "Morning Cathy, what do you need from me this time?" She remarked with an amused smirk on her face.

"You know me way too well." Catherine chuckled.

"I just know that tone and that look. You get it anytime you want me to look something up for you without going through channels or when you need the information in a hurry. I can also see that piece of paper you have in your hand." She held out her hand. "So hand it over and tell me what you want."

Catherine handed over the photocopy she had made of the driver's license Vincent had given her. At the top was written the name Peter Blair followed by two question marks. There was also a serial number followed by a gun's make and model.

Rita looked at it. "John Abbot." Then she read the name written at the top. "Peter Blair? Which one are you interested in?"

"Actually, I want to know about both of them. There's no real hurry on it." She pointed to the serial number. "I also want a history on that gun."

"You want a quick ID check or a full work-up?" Rita glanced up at her. "Since you said there's no hurry, I suspect you want a full workup."

"I want as much as you can find out about them. I suspect that Peter Blair may be an alias." Catherine responded. "The man has been going by the name of Peter but he was carrying that ID. I want to know which is real."

"This may take a while. I have about two hours worth of stuff to enter for Joe. I'll get on it as soon as I finish that. I'll let you know what I find." Rita turned back to her terminal and continued typing.

"Thanks Rita, I owe you one."

"You owe me a hundred, but who's counting." She responded without looking up.

Catherine walked away smiling. If anybody could dig the truth out of that machine, Rita could. She had turned out to be even better at it than Edie had been before she left. That got Catherine thinking about the first friend she had made in the DA's office a little over two years ago. She wondered what Edie was up to now as she went back to her desk and continued working on the Burton case. There was little she could do on the apartment shootout until Rita got her the information she needed.

~ o ~

Laura was pacing the room. The time differential between New York and L.A. was maddening but she couldn't just call and wake Mildred up because of her own impatience. She glanced over at Remington who was patiently examining the items they had brought back from the apartment. She admired his ability to remain unruffled no matter what the situation. Well there were those few times when he had thought she had been hurt. He certainly got ruffled then. The thought made her smile.

Remington had been carefully examining the four Passports that he had found in the apartment. "If these are forgeries, they are very professionally done; I simply couldn't tell they were forgeries." Remington remarked. "In fact I would swear that they are the real thing if they didn't all have the same face." He looked up at his wife pacing the room and smiled tolerantly.

As soon as Laura figured that Mildred was at the office she called.

"Mildred I need you to find out everything you can on the following names." . . .

"John Abbot . . . Peter Blair . . . Paul Cartwright . . . Jim Donavan." . . .

"Everything you can dig up. I suspect that they're fake." . . .

"We're fine here. Things are starting to get interesting." . . .

"Let us know as soon as you find out anything." . . .

"Yes, Mildred, We'll be careful." . . .

"OK, bye."

"If there's anything to find, Mildred will find it. She's a wizard on that computer of hers." Laura commented hopefully.

Back at the office Mildred started researching the names as soon as she hung up. She started with John Abbot. She was soon conscientiously digging in. She didn't know how much they wanted so she dug in as deeply as she could.

~ o ~

**_1:30 pm - Washington DC_**

Lee and Amanda were discussing a new case related to the nebulous spy ring they were hunting when Billy called. "I need you both in my office immediately. We've got a hot one." Then he hung up without waiting for a response.

"What's up Billy?" Lee asked as he and Amanda entered Billy's office.

"Close the door, Scarecrow." Billy replied.

Lee sobered immediately as he closed the office door. This sounded serious and Billy looked worried.

"We just got two hits on an old cover ID that has been retired for seven years. Both of the inquiries came within an hour of each other." Billy picked up a folder and looked in it. "The first of the inquiries was from the New York City District Attorney's Office. Their computer operator was pretty persistent and got a lot deeper than he should have." He consulted the folder again. "The other inquiry came nearly an hour later from the Remington Steele Detective Agency in Los Angeles. Their computer operator also dug a lot deeper than normal. Two inquiries that were a lot more determined than any normal background check, coming from opposite ends of the country. I find that very disturbing." He again consulted the folder. "Even more disturbing was that we also got a hit on the agent's real name from that same detective agency."

"What about the agent?" Lee asked.

Billy replied, "He disappeared, dropped out of sight six years ago."

Something about the way Billy was looking at him made Lee nervous. Was this agent connected to him somehow? "Who was it?" Lee asked.

"Paul Cartwright"

"What?" Lee exclaimed in surprise. "I thought he was dead, killed in that car bombing." Amanda could see a hint of old pain reflected in Lee's eyes, much like the time they became involved in the old OZ network.

Billy shook his head. There was a hint of pity in his eyes. "I'm sorry Lee but only a very small handful of people knew he was still alive. It had to be that way. There was evidence of a possible traitor in the agency back then."

Everyone was startled when the office door swung open and Dr. Smith swept into Billy's office. "What's this I hear about Remington Steele sniffing around one of our agents, Billy?"

Billy replied. "We are already on it Dr. Smith."

Dr. Smith shot back without skipping a beat. "I don't like outsiders playing in my pool when I didn't even know it was open. I want to know what's going on. Let's not get caught with our pants down. Hop to it kiddies and keep me informed." He turned and swept out of the office.

They all watched him leave then Billy continued, nodding at the door Dr. Smith had just exited. "This has top priority. I want you on the next flight to New York. We might as well start there. Find out why the DA wants information on that alias and why Remington Steele is also in New York. Francine has the details." Billy started to open his door then stopped. "I almost forgot. We also got a hit from the DA on an old agency weapon serial number. It was the one assigned to Paul." He pulled the door open. "Get me some answers."

~ o ~

**_3:30 pm_**

As Catherine was shuffling through the Burton case files that afternoon her phone rang. It was the young detective from yesterday. He told her that someone had apparently entered apartment 13C last night and turned it upside down. He told her that nothing obvious was missing but there was a drawer with an empty false bottom discovered. Catherine thanked him and hung up. That was an interesting development. She kept wondering what might have been hidden in that false bottom that someone had found.

It was an hour later that Rita came to her with the results of her search. The rest of the afternoon was spent going over what she had found. Catherine decided to wait until morning to hit Joe with this bombshell. She placed the folders in her file drawer and got ready to head home.

~ o ~

As Lee and Amanda settled into their seats on the airplane he raised the armrest between them. Amanda accepted the tacit invitation and shifted up close to Lee as he put his arm around her. They had been secretly married for over two years now. Lee was certain that Billy and Francine knew about it but they continued to pretend ignorance. But somehow he and Amanda always ended up on missions together and their days off also seemed to, coincidentally, always occur at the same time. That had to be Billy and Francine's doing.

As the plane took off Amanda laid her head on his shoulders and they quietly talked about the everyday inconsequential things that married couples talked about. The last time they had been to New York was eight months ago on that Dimitri Benko affair and it wasn't long before the conversation wandered around to that subject. In all that time Dimitri had never turned up despite an intensive search for him.

"It's almost as though the earth opened up and swallowed him whole." Lee mused. "I keep wondering what that creature was doing there that night."

"You still believe what you saw was real, don't you?" Amanda had her doubts but she had not been there and she no longer tried to convince him that it was a mask he had seen.

"I know it was real. I did a little research shortly after that incident and I discovered something very interesting." He paused. "There have been sporadic reports of some kind of lion like creature going back almost twenty years. They all seem to center around the Central Park area." He shrugged. "Maybe I was hallucinating, but if so I'm not the only one."

Amanda caressed his chest. "If you say you saw it then I believe in you." She thought a moment. "But where does it disappear to?"

Lee shook his head. "Where did Dimitri disappear to?"

~ o ~

Soon Lee and Amanda arrived in New York and were taken to their hotel. Lee was amused to notice that though they had separate rooms, they turned out to be adjoining. Billy, or Francine, didn't miss a trick.

After unpacking they sat down together to plan how they would attack this problem. They wanted to keep a low profile while they figured out exactly what the situation was. They decided to set the Remington Steele matter aside and concentrate on the District Attorney's office since Steele was a moving target and the DA office wasn't hard to find. The first thing they would have to do is find out whom in that office had wanted information on that particular alias. Then maybe they could find out why. Tomorrow would be a busy day.

~ o ~

That evening Catherine went straight 'Below' without even stopping by her apartment. She wanted to see Vincent and check on that enigmatic guest that he had down there. Both guests were still unconscious so she ate dinner with Vincent and spent the evening just enjoying his company.

When she finally went home she had a hard time getting to sleep. Rita's report had given her a lot to think about, and a lot to worry about.

~ o ~

As Laura and Remington lay together in bed they talked about what they would do next. It was finally decided that they would return to the apartment building and interview the tenants of the apartments near where the shootout had occurred.

Laura was so wound up that it took her several hours to finally fall asleep.

~ x x x x x ~

_**Continued in Part 9**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

___V.12.04.06_


	9. To Be or Not To Be

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 9: To Be or Not To Be  
**

**_10:30 am (Day 3)_**

Lee and Amanda received a call from Francine shortly after they woke up, identifying the hotel where Remington Steele was staying. After a quick breakfast they decided to tackle Steele first and went to his hotel. They found that Remington was out, so they entered his room to search it. Lee was about to decide that there was nothing useful here when Amanda found something very interesting.

"Lee." Amanda called out. "Look at this." She was holding up four passports that she had found in an overnight case.

"These all belong to Paul." Lee remarked in surprise. "But where and how did Steele get a hold of them?" He glanced around the hotel suite then shrugged. "So far I've come up empty." He glanced down at the passports. "At least now we know where the Remington Steele Agency got the names, but we still don't know why they would have them or how they got them." He handed the passports back to Amanda. "Put these back where you found them. We don't want this 'detective' Steele to know we've been here."

While Amanda put the passports back, Lee planted a bug under the phone. Then they left the room. In the hallway Lee planted the voice activated receiver/recorder that was tuned to the bug. They staked out the hotel until lunch then they ate a light lunch in the hotel lounge. Since there had been no activity they decided to check out the D.A.'s office angle.

~ o ~

Remington and Laura approached the officer in the lobby of the apartment building. Fortunately it was a different officer than the one from yesterday. This time they were dressed in no-nonsense business attire. Remington approached and introduced themselves. Good afternoon officer. Richard Blain and Laura Hunt of Pepplers and Pepplers Life and Casualty Insurance Agency here to interview the residents on floor thirteen.

The policeman passed them on without comment. On the thirteenth floor there was an officer on guard at the crime scene but they were ignored as they talked to the other tenants. By noon they realized that they had learned nothing new and decided to cut it short and head back to their hotel. Laura wanted to call Mildred and find out what she had uncovered.

As Remington and Laura entered the elevator back at their hotel, Lee and Amanda came out of the hotel lounge and left the hotel. Once back in their room Laura called Mildred.

Mildred reported her findings. "The Paul Cartwright identity appears to be genuine but he is listed as deceased. The Peter Blair and Jim Donavan identities were just good enough to pass a casual inspection but they both broke down as soon as I started digging." She paused for a few seconds. "Now the John Abbot identity turned out to be very interesting. It looked to be completely genuine and I was about to go to the next ID when I noticed a couple of odd things about it so I dug a little further and ran into some definite irregularities. Also he is supposed to have been killed in a car explosion on the same day that Paul Cartwright is supposed to have died from a car accident. That's when I hit a brick wall, but just before I was bounced out I spotted a federal government flag on the file. That ID was government generated and it was flagged to alert somebody if it was probed too deeply. I don't know what you kids have gotten yourselves into but watch your backs."

"OK Mildred, we'll be careful."

Laura hung up. "Why would he have a government generated false ID?" She mused aloud.

"I can think of two reasons." Remington replied. "Witness protection or secret agent."

Laura didn't look happy. "This just keeps getting better and better. First a con-man, now a spy . . . or a mobster on the run. And in either case he has been dead for several years."

Remington thought for a second. "According to several of the neighbors, someone from the district attorney's office lives in that building and has already been asking questions. Why don't I go over there and see what I can find out?"

"I'll go check out the police reports on the shootout." Laura replied.

~ o ~

Catherine glanced into a folder as she was telling Joe what she knew. "It didn't take long to figure out that Peter Blair is an alias. There is just enough info to satisfy a casual check. Say for instance a job application or to open a bank account. When Rita dug deeper the only reference she could find on it is a report on some kind of ruckus about ten years ago involving the Czechoslovakian embassy." She paused. "A source of mine mentioned that he bought flowers in the ground floor florist shop with a credit card in the name of John Abbot."

She opened a second thicker folder. "When Rita looked up John Abbot the information available appeared to be much more complete. The deeper she looked however, peculiarities in the information available started to make her suspicious. There were places where the details were too vague and there were some suspicious holes in the data." She looked at the folder again. "I would say that this must also be a fake identity. It's very good and would pass any normal background or security check, but Rita went a little deeper and found those anomalies I just mentioned." Catherine had saved the best for last. "The records show that he was supposed to have been killed in a car explosion six years ago. Rita also said that when she dug in far enough she found that the files under that name are flagged by the CIA."

"That's just great." The disgust was quite evident in Joe's voice. "The last thing we need is to have a bunch of Fed spooks breathing down our necks on this." He shook his head. "You remember that time when that foreign hit squad was after Elliot Burch." He made a disparaging snort. "They were more interested in covering the whole thing up than solving it. The hit squad just disappeared and we never did find out what happened."

"Oh, I remember." Catherine replied rolling her eyes. She knew more about it than Joe did but she had to keep that knowledge to herself. She didn't want to risk exposing Vincent. Another of the things she withheld was the result of the gun serial number check. She didn't want to have to explain where the gun came from. It led to a series of blind dead ends like someone had deliberately obscured the records. A closer check of the manufacturer discovered that the serial number was never used by them. In fact that number was not in any of the sequences normally used.

"What about the woman?" Joe asked.

"That background turned out to be fairly straight forward." Catherine consulted a third folder. "Abigail Holt was adopted as an infant. The adoption records are sealed. Fairly ordinary childhood. I found two occurrences of her name in the LA police records. Both were as a witness to a crime. She is a divorced mother of two daughters, Laura Holt and Frances Piper. Frances Piper is a housewife, married to a dentist and living in California. Laura Holt is an investigator for Remington Steele Investigations in Los Angeles." She looked up as she closed the folder. "I checked with the phone company and the last phone call from the apartment was made at the time of the shooting and lasted nearly an hour. The call was to the home residence of Remington Steele. I got curious so I checked with his office and they said that Miss Holt and Mr. Steele are out of the office and are not expected back 'til next week. I checked with the airlines and found out that they flew into New York two days ago. The flight was booked about two hours after the shootout. I have Rita trying to find out where they are staying."

"OK." Joe replied with a sigh. "It looks like we can expect a visit from ether the FBI or the CIA fairly soon." He shook his head, clearly annoyed with the situation. "Keep on top of it, Radcliffe, and watch yourself."

Catherine left Joe's office just a little worried. If the CIA or the FBI became involved, Vincent and the tunnel community could be endangered. She would have to tread very carefully with this one. She returned to her desk mulling over various ways to handle it if that should happen.

As she approached her desk, Rita intercepted her. "I found something on that gun serial number." She was definitely sporting a self satisfied grin. "It's juicy, and a bit scary."

"What is it?" Catherine asked.

"I talked to a cousin that works for a gun manufacturer. That serial number is one of a series that is forbidden by secret government edict. In a rather obscure unrelated database I found that a half dozen different numbers from that series have popped up in cases over the last fifteen years. I tried to track down those cases. In each one, all records of those cases had disappeared." She gave a little shiver. "I think the only reason they still exist in the database where I found them was because it is a secondary cross index register created by the National Registry Database during cross referencing operations. Most people don't even realize it exists. I stumbled across it by accident a couple of years ago and figured out how to use it to find hard to locate data."

"Thanks, Rita." Catherine sighed. "I was afraid it might be something like that." She sat down deep in thought then looked up. "If anyone asks you about it, tell them that I found the number on a piece of paper and asked you to look it up. As for the rest, just play dumb."

~ o ~

**_2:00 pm_**

Lee and Amanda entered Joe's office and identified themselves as computer network auditors here to assess the efficiency of the computer department. Lee told Joe that their report would be included in next year's budget allocations.

After praising the computer department for fast and efficient retrieval of critical information, Joe turned them over to Rita. "She is our chief information researcher." He told them then headed back to his office.

Remington entered the District Attorney's office displaying far more confidence than he felt. He walked up to the first person he encountered and flashed a totally fake ID quickly enough so that the woman didn't get a good look. "Agent Richard Blain, CIA, I need to speak with whoever is in charge here."

The woman pointed to Joe's office. "Joe Maxwell . . . in there."

Remington looked over and saw a man entering the office. He thanked her and walked over to the open door. He knocked on the door frame and, when Joe looked up, announced himself. "Joe Maxwell? Richard Blain, CIA, I need to speak with whoever is running the investigation of the shoot out two days ago at the apartment building on Central Park West."

Joe sighed resigned. He had been expecting this. "That would be Cathy Chandler. Have a seat and I'll call her in." Joe leaned out and signaled for Catherine's attention. "Cathy, can you come in here for a minute?"

As Catherine approached Joe's door she noticed the handsome dark haired man in there with Joe. Something about the man made her think of those old James Bond movies her father had been fond of. The tall handsome man seemed to be studying her as Joe waved her into the office.

Once Catherine had entered Joe's office and the door closed Remington began. "First I want to assure you that I have no intention of interfering with your department. I can't tell you why but I need to be kept up to date on this affair. Right now I need a synopsis of the investigation to date."

Catherine took the time to give a pretty accurate outline of the situation without mentioning the tunnels and the two guests they had down there or the gun. Remington listened attentively, especially to the part about the disappearance of the apartment's tenant and a woman named Abigail Holt, then he thanked them for their time.

He gave them a special number that went to a line that Mildred always answered without identifying the agency. "If you learn anything else call me at that number. If I'm not there, you can leave the information with my assistant." Then he stood up and after shaking both their hands and left the office.

~ o ~

Amanda consulted a clipboard she was carrying. "How many Inquiries do you do in a day?" She asked.

Rita responded. "I can't really say miss . . . ah . . ."

"Kane, Amanda Kane." She pointed to Lee. "And this is my assistant, Lee Stockman." Lee couldn't help smiling at the way she had put him in a subordinate roll. It had become a game with them.

"Miss Kane. I never really bothered to count." Rita continued.

"Does this system keep a record of inquiries?" Amanda asked. "And if so, can you print me out a list from say . . . the last three days?"

"Yes it does keep a record." Rita thought for a few seconds. "I think I can print it out . . . Give me a second." She did a quick check of files within the computer then with a triumphant, "Ah Ha!" pulled up a file. "Here it is. This is the computerized log of inquiries." She pressed another button and the printer clattered to life.

Lee and Amanda scanned through the printout. The information was in the form of fairly cryptic data and statistics most of which was meaningless to them. They were however able to make out a few names scattered through the printout and finally they found the name 'John Abbot' in the listing.

Lee marked that entry then marked two other queries at random. "Who requested these queries?" Amanda asked her. "We would like to interview them."

Rita studied the entries for a while. "This first one I don't remember specifically. This second one was Cathy . . . Cathy Chandler and this third one was for Eric Henderson."

Amanda then asked, "Could you direct me to those two people?"

"Let's see." She got up and looked out into the bullpen area then pointed. "That's Eric over there." She looked around then noticed Catherine's empty desk and Joe's closed office door. "I believe Cathy is in Joe's office right now."

Lee and Amanda went over to Eric and asked him such questions as how often he accessed the computer system and when was the last time he used it. They also asked him what the query they marked was for and how timely and useful it had been.

Joe's door opened and a tall, dark haired, well dressed man came out accompanied by another man and a very pretty woman about Amanda's age. They shook hands and separated. The dark haired man walked out, the other man returned to the office and the woman headed to a desk over by the filing cabinets.

"Why does she look familiar?" Lee remarked quietly to Amanda.

Suddenly Amanda grabbed his arm. "Lee, that's the sad elegant woman that blundered into the wedding of Dimitri's girlfriend."

"You're right. That's where I remember seeing her." Lee responded. "We definitely need to talk to her. I have a feeling that there may be a lot more here than we thought."

A light seemed to come on in her mind as Amanda remembered why Cathy had seemed familiar back then. "I remember now. I saw an article about her in one of Mother's magazines last year. She is an independently wealthy socialite that joined the DA office after she was viciously attacked three years ago."

Lee and Amanda went over and announced themselves and their cover story. Then Amanda asked the same questions that they had asked Eric. They learned about the shootout and the two bogus identities. Catherine was happy to explain how useful the computer access was in digging out such things as false identities. They also learned about the woman that had been present at the shootout.

Amanda thanked her and they left. They stopped at Remington Steele's hotel and swapped out the tape then headed back to their hotel. As soon as they got back to their rooms they listened to the tape then Lee called Billy and requested a full workup on Catherine Chandler of the New York District Attorney's Office and Abigail Holt of LA. Two hours later Francine called them back with a fairly complete synopsis of the report, including a rather graphic description of the police photo of Catherine after the knife attack.

Francine paused. "Here's something interesting. The C.I.A. has her marked as a person to be careful around. Last spring she got involved in one of their operations. They were tracking a foreign death squad. She somehow helped the target, one Elliot Burch, escape and when their agents finally found the death squad, they were all dead. It says that they appeared to have been badly mauled by some large animal. Eck! The pictures are not pretty." There was a momentary pause. "As far as Abigail Holt, her record is downright boring, but when we ran a cross check against all the other people involved and it turns out that she is the mother of Remington Steele's associate and wife, one Laura Holt Steele."

After he hung up Lee told Amanda what Francine had said. Since the reasons behind the multiple hits on the agent's ID's had been explained, The Remington Steele angle was temporarily tabled in favor of further investigation of Catherine Chandler. It was decided that they should stake out her apartment.

_**Continued in Part 10**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

___V.12.04.06_


	10. Return of the Impossible Intruder

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 10: Return of the Impossible Intruder**

**_6:45 pm_**

Catherine looked up at the clock on the wall. It was well past quitting time but she still had these depositions to go over. She sighed with frustration. Vincent knew where she was and how she felt. She knew he would wait patiently but she hated to make him wait and she needed to warn Vincent about the CIA angle so that he would know to be extra careful. Well it had to be done. She dived back into the depositions determined to get through them as quickly as possible.

~ o ~

Lee and Amanda rented a car and drove over to Catherine's apartment. Lee stopped at a florist shop on the way and purchased a flower arrangement. Once they arrived Lee tried to deliver the flowers to Catherine's apartment. The policeman that was acting as security at the lobby desk phoned the apartment and when there was no answer he told Lee he would have to leave the flowers at the front desk with him. He would see that she got them.

Afterwards Lee met Amanda in the park across the street. "She's not home yet and security is pretty good in that building. It won't be easily to get in through the front. We need to find another way in."

Amanda smiled at him. "Let me try." She walked across the street and waited until a medium sized group of people arrived at the building together. The group was there to visit someone living in 16A for a birthday party. While the guard was calling up to verify the visitors Amanda managed to slip in with them. As the group got in the elevator she pressed the button for the eighteenth floor.

Once in the apartment she did a quick scan to get the general layout. It was a small one bedroom efficiency but there was no doubt that it was also very expensive, certainly more than your average Assistant District Attorney could afford. "I'm in." She told Lee over the radio.

"We don't know how much time we have, so plant the bugs and get out quickly." He responded.

Amanda couldn't resist looking around a bit. In this impeccably neat elegantly furnished apartment she immediately noticed two glaring discrepancies. On the coffee table she saw a gun sitting on top of a book of Shakespeare sonnets. She picked up the gun reporting it to Lee then she read off the serial number to him. Lee informed her that it was the missing agency weapon. The other discrepancy was a rather utilitarian industrial duty flashlight that sat out on a shelf by the door.

Amanda planted one bug under the coffee table and a second one in the telephone. She debated with herself for several seconds on whether to put one in the bedroom. Such a personal invasion of privacy went against the grain for her so she decided to put the third bug in the little kitchenette. Out of curiosity she picked up the book on the table and opened it. She read the sonnet that was bookmarked, such a lovely sentiment. She also read the inscription in the front of the book. As she put the book back down she wondered who Vincent was. He was obviously a very sensitive and romantic person.

She placed the gun back on top of the book and, after checking that she had put everything back where it had been, she left the apartment. She stopped off at the thirteenth floor and entered apartment 13C. The place appeared to have been thoroughly searched. As she reached out to open the door she spotted something that brought out a mischievous smile as she picked it up and put it in her pocket. She closed the door to the apartment and took two steps then stopped. As an after thought she took out her makeup kit and brushed a light dusting of face powder onto the door knob. It just seemed like a good idea right then. She also glanced curiously at the chair in the hall next to the door. There was an open magazine on the seat.

As she exited the building she noticed a police officer talking to the other officer at the front guard desk. Amanda returned across the street to where Lee was waiting.

"What took you so long?" Lee asked.

"I stopped off to look into the apartment where the shootout happened. It's been gone over pretty thoroughly." She responded.

Lee shook his head. He knew there wouldn't be anything worthwhile left. "Where did you plant the bugs?" He asked.

"The phone, the coffee table and the kitchen." She replied.

Lee smiled. "What about the bedroom?"

"I ran out of bugs." She shot back.

Lee grinned to himself. He knew the real reason and he had expected no different.

Lee and Amanda settled in on a park bench located near Catherine's apartment building and began the most tedious part of the job. After a while Lee began talking about Paul. "John Abbot was a cover identity for Paul Cartwright. Paul was the oldest member of the Oz network. His codename was Lion. He was the most cautious of us during the planning stages of an operation but in the field he was the gutsiest man I have ever known. He had just retired from field duty to a desk due to a damaged knee joint about two weeks before Dorothy was killed." He paused looking down.

Amanda nodded her understanding. She suspected that Lee had been very close to Dorothy and her death was still a sensitive subject with him. "So what happened to Paul?" She asked to distract him from brooding about Dorothy.

"Paul was involved in an undercover operation that was supposed to break up a major spy ring. There was an explosion in the warehouse that the ring was operating out of. There were eighteen people in that building at that time; six of them were Paul's team. Paul was outside supervising the operation when the building blew. A piece of debris caught him in the knee. Afterwards when they sifted through the rubble, they were only able to account for fifteen bodies. They figured three of the enemy must have escaped. The explosion and fire were so bad we were lucky to find enough bone fragments to account for the fifteen dead. There was no way to identify who was who. The reason we know that the three missing were enemy personnel was because we found the equipment of all six of our agents. That was the last time Paul used that Identity"

"The loss of Paul was a severe blow to the OZ group. He had been the Wizards mentor and friend. Two weeks later Dorothy was killed when that operation fell apart. I think Paul felt like he should have been there. He blamed himself for Dorothy's death. Three months later they blew up Paul in his car. We never caught those three missing agents." Lee shook his head. "And now Billy tells me that it wasn't Paul in that car and here we are bugging an A.D.A., who according to Francine's report is something of a local hero, to try and find out what is going on. Sometimes this business is hell."

~ o ~

**_8:10 pm_**

The taxi pulled up to the apartment and Catherine stepped out, paid the driver and headed inside. "OK. There she is." Amanda announced, nudging Lee in the side. About ten minutes later the lights in her apartment went on. About forty-five minutes later Amanda looked down commenting, "Looks like she has gone out to her balcony." She shrugged. "Living alone with no known boyfriend must make for pretty quiet evenings." She felt a moment's sympathy for such a lonely lifestyle.

Lee chuckled, shaking his head. "And a pretty boring stakeout."

Amanda began walking her fingers up his arm. "I can think of a few ways to pass the time." She looked at him with a sly smile. "Always makes for a good cover."

~ o ~

Catherine entered her apartment and set the bouquet of flowers on the coffee table. There was no tag or note to identify the sender and the policeman on guard in the lobby told her that the man that delivered them had not identified himself. She got a vase, put water in it, then, after checking them over carefully for anything unusual, she put the flowers in the vase. She went into her bedroom and quickly changed into casual clothes. She went back to her kitchen and fixed herself a light snack, then walked out to her balcony and settled on the chase lounge to wait for Vincent. It was less than twenty minutes before she heard a soft rustling sound and looked up to see Vincent drop lightly onto her balcony. She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck, planting a warm kiss on him. "Glad to see you Vincent. Anything new on your guests?"

Vincent smiled. "Both of them are still out. They both lost a lot of blood and the man suffered some pretty severe damage. It takes time to recover from that much damage and blood loss. Also father gave them a pretty strong sedative to help them sleep, but it looks like they will both survive."

Catherine turned and stared out into the park as she reported her findings on them. "The info on the man is strangely sparse, lots of gaps, and the file has some kind of alert tag on it. I'm pretty certain it is an alias, possibly government supplied. Maybe he's in the witness protection system. Tomorrow I think I'll check with James at the FBI. See if he knows anything." She placed her hands on the balcony railing and stared out at the park. "I'm worried Vincent. This is getting complicated. There was a man from the C.I.A. in the office today and I'm so afraid this could expose your world to government scrutiny if we are not very careful." She shook her head.

Vincent turned and looked out into the park. He stood there for a while before he spoke. "There is nothing we can do about it right now except take good care of our guests and try to sort it out before it gets out of hand. If it becomes a problem we seal off the entrance under your building and, as Cullen puts it, play possum for a while until they forget about us. Our two guests were so lost when we found them that they will have no idea where they ended up."

~ o ~

Amanda was in the midst of a passionate kiss when she heard muffled conversation over the headphones. She pulled back slightly. "Lee, there's someone else in there. I can hear talking but it's too low for me to make out the words"

"What? How?" Lee grabbed a pair of high power binoculars and pointed them at the balcony in question.

"I don't know. I didn't hear the door and no one other than Miss Chandler has gone in or out of that building in the last half hour."

Lee focused in and saw two figures on the balcony. One was Catherine Chandler. The other was very large, Lee guessed around six and a half feet, and powerfully built with a mane of long thick sandy colored hair. The unidentified person had his back to them yet there was something strangely familiar about the figure but he just couldn't place it.

Catherine placed her hands on the balcony railing looking out into the park. A moment later the other figure turned around to look out into the park as well. Lee felt his heart jump as he cut loose with a startled oath. "Oh, my god! Amanda, it's him. I knew I wasn't crazy, I really did see him that night on the docks." He handed her the binoculars

The high powered binoculars were a lot heavier than normal and it was hard to get a good view because of the way the image wavered. Then she leaned against a tree and got a stable image. With a sharp intake of breath she exclaimed. "Who . . . What is he?"

"I've been asking myself that same question for the last eight months." Lee shook his head as he gazed up. "I don't know what it . . . he is." All he could see without the binoculars was barely distinguishable irregularities against the light from the apartment. "I think we now know what happened to that death squad Francine told us about."

Amanda felt a shiver run up her spine as she thought about that creature and those deaths. As she was watching she saw Catherine and the creature face then embrace each other. Catherine certainly was not afraid of him. Then she saw Catherine entwine her hands in the creature's hair, - (mane?) - and pull him down for what was a fairly passionate kiss. "**Well**, she definitely knows him very well." Amanda remarked with a combination of surprise, disbelief and amusement in her voice.

Lee looked over at her, surprised at the tone of her voice. "What do you mean?"

"You don't normally kiss a stranger like that."

"What?" Lee was flabbergasted.

"Just what I said. That was a pretty passionate kiss she just gave him." She shook her head.

~ o ~

Catherine and Vincent broke from their embrace. Why don't you come below for a while?" Vincent smiled. "You can check in on our guests while you're there."

"Catherine smiled. "Sounds like a good excuse . . . ah . . . idea." She chuckled as she stepped through the French doors into her living room. "I'll meet you 'Below' in fifteen minutes." She called back from the balcony doorway as she watched him grab the stonework and begin climbing up.

She closed the balcony door and smiled to herself as she went over and put her plate in the sink. She was suddenly in too much of a hurry to clean it off. Soon she was hurrying down the stairs because it was faster than the elevator.

~ o ~

As Lee and Amanda watched they both saw the creature climb up the outside of the building then disappear from their line of sight onto the roof. By then the lights in Catherine's apartment had gone off.

Amanda jumped up. "I'll cover the lobby." She ran over to where she could see through the glass doors into the lobby.

Lee called out, "I'll get the garage," and sprinted over to their car that was positioned to watch the underground garage entrance.

After about fifteen minutes Lee reported. "No activity here"

Amanda responded. "She never came out."

Lee came back over. "No one came out the garage. Did you hear her say anything useful?"

"I distinctly heard her leave the apartment." Amanda's brows creased as she thought about what she heard. "And I'm positive I heard her say that she would meet him below in fifteen minutes"

Lee looked at her with a puzzled frown. "Below what?"

"Just, 'Below'." She paused, also puzzled. "It almost sounded like she was referring to specific location rather than a relative one."

~ o ~

Remington and Laura had been going over everything they had learned at the DA's office. There was so little to go on. They called Mildred to find out if there were any new developments. She gave them what she had dug up about Catherine Chandler and Joe Maxwell. She also reported that there had been no calls on the special line. Finally in desperation Laura decided that she would call Catherine's office in the morning and try to see her. She went to bed in a very unsettled state of mind.

_**Continued in Part 11**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

___V.12.04.06_


	11. Which Way Did they Go

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 11: Which Way Did they Go**

**_9:30 pm_**

"We have to get back in there and find out where they went." Lee shrugged his shoulder. "But how do we get back in without alerting the guard at the front desk? We can't count on another lucky break."

Amanda reached into her pocket and produced a remote for the garage entrance. With a shrug and a self satisfied smile she announced, "I swiped this from 13C."

~ o ~

They drove into the garage entrance and parked in the empty space for 13C. A quick check verified that Catherine's car was still parked in its usual space. Soon they were both in Catherine's apartment. There was no one there. Lee checked the bedroom and found the clothes she had been wearing laid out on the bed.

"Lee." Amanda called. "She left her purse behind." She frowned. "Where would she possibly go without her purse?"

"Maybe she took a different purse." He responded.

"No all of her stuff is in here." She paused as she continued to sift through the contents. "Except her keys. She left her ID behind but took her keys." She looked around. The gun and the book had been moved over and there was a vase full of flowers on the coffee table in their place. Everything else was undisturbed . . . except. "Lee there was a large heavy duty flashlight sitting on this shelf earlier. Now it's gone."

They both stood in the middle of the apartment looking at each other. "Where did they go?" Amanda asked the world in general.

"Could they have gone to Paul's apartment?" Lee seemed to be talking more to himself.

Amanda shrugged her shoulders. "I don't think that is what she meant by 'below'."

They went down to the thirteenth floor. There was the same police officer Amanda had seen in the lobby earlier, sitting in the chair next to the door to 13C. "Nobody's been here since I left earlier." Amanda whispered to Lee as the policeman glanced up from his magazine. In a louder voice she announced. "This isn't twelve." And turned back toward the elevator.

As they waited for the elevator to return she reported quietly. "I left a light dusting of face powder on the doorknob when I left earlier and, from here, it doesn't look like it's been disturbed."

Lee glanced back at the policeman and at the door. "Smart girl." He complimented her. "So where did they go?" The elevator door opened and they stepped inside.

Amanda thought back, "You can see the elevator doors from the building's front entrance." She closed her eyes. "I saw the elevator go all the way from the top floor to the basement, nonstop, right after that creature left Miss Chandler's balcony. It never stopped on her floor" She opened her eyes. "Do you think the creature could have ridden the elevator down?"

"If he did then he must have gone to the basement." Lee responded, "She must have gone down the stairs." He looked at Amanda uncertainly. "Could 'Below' be a reference to the basement."

"There's only one way to find out." Amanda replied. She hit the button for the eleventh floor and they exited the elevator. They entered the stairwell and verified that there was no one there before they continued down. At the bottom of the stairwell they quietly entered the basement but the basement appeared to be empty.

"Lee, look at the floor. This dust has been disturbed recently." She remarked.

"Good Call." Lee complimented her with a smile.

"Hardy Boys Mysteries. Phillip and Jamie used to love them." She responded.

Lee laughed. He and Amanda followed the path of disturbed dust. They eventually found smudged patches of dried blood at three locations.

"Lee?" Amanda was getting nervous. "That **is** dried blood, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so and this isn't very old." He was also getting worried. Dried blood almost always boded ill. "I wonder if it has anything to do with the shootout." He touched the normally comforting weight of his gun under his armpit. It gave little comfort though as he thought about Paul's gun sitting on Catherine Chandler's coffee table, Francine's description of the dead of the foreign hit squad from a year ago, and the image of that massive creature that they were now trying to follow.

They followed in the general direction indicated by the smudges and the disturbed dust until they ended up at the back wall. Nothing! They backtracked then carefully searched the entire basement. Except for that pathway from the stairway to the back wall and a second one from the elevator to the same back wall, there was no sign at all that anyone had been down here in months. They were again at the back wall and completely perplexed.

"Where else could they have gone?" Amanda asked. "I clearly remember her saying she would meet him below in fifteen minutes. It took us ten minutes to go from her apartment to the basement. That included about a three to four minutes stop on thirteen plus the time spent getting on and off the elevator. It took the elevator five minutes to go nonstop from the top floor to the basement. It took him two minutes to climb to the roof." She thought hard her brows furrowed. They could easily reach any place within the building in under eight minutes." She shrugged.

"It makes no sense." Lee remarked in frustration. "I don't think it's likely that they went to another apartment either. He seems to have vanished into thin air and Miss Chandler with him." Lee smacked the top of the chest high wooden crate next to him in frustration; his quarry had again vanished without a trace. "It's happening all over again, just like it did eight months ago. What is that creature that he can just vanish like that?"

Amanda glanced at the large crate he had just hit. "Lee, look at that. Is that a hand print on the side of that box?"

"It sure is." He examined the hand print. "This is also dried blood." He looked at Amanda. "There has to be something, some clue around here as to where they went. I'm sure Dimitri, Paul and that creature all disappeared to the same place." Lee immediately began searching the area but with no success.

After a while Amanda stopped him. "Lee this is no good, you're just getting upset. Stop and look at this logically, examine the evidence we do have." She smiled. "Hardy Boys, again."

Lee stopped and thought for a while then he examined the hand print. It was just below waist height with the fingers pointed downward. He realized that there was no natural way to arrange his hand in the same place while facing the box. "OK let's look at this. You're on the run and you are bleeding. If you were leaning against this box your fingers would point up with your thumbs inward or your fingers would point down with your thumbs outward . . . unless . . . you were standing with your back to it."

He stood with his back against the box with his hands against it. It matched and it was a more natural placement. "Those three smudges on the floor must have been where he or she fell. So you're tired or hurt enough that you are falling down so . . ." He placed his hand on the handprint with his back to the box. He gazed in the direction that he was now facing, looking for any clue. "So you're worn out and looking in this direction. What did you see?" As Lee studied the view in front of him he leaned back resting his weight against the box . . . and the box moved.

He turned around and pushed hard. The crate slid easily aside exposing a metal hatchway mounted in the wall. He opened the hatch and gazed into the opening. He found that it opened into a dark pit that looked like it went down about ten feet. There was light at the bottom. He pulled back and looked up at Amanda. "I think we've just found out where 'Below' is." He stood up and pushed the crate back into place.

"Why did you do that?" Amanda asked him.

"I think that we're going to need a flashlight." He replied. "I'll be right back." He ran back to the stairwell.

About fifteen minutes later Lee returned carrying a flashlight. He pushed the crate aside, stuck his head through the opening and examined the walls of the shaft. "There's a ladder to the right here." He backed out and handed the flashlight to Amanda. "It's only about ten feet down. You go first and I'll be right behind you."

Once Amanda was down Lee got onto the ladder then checked the hatch and the wooden crate. He was intrigued by the simplicity of the hidden hatchway. Lee pulled the crate back into position then closed the hatch then he joined Amanda at the bottom and looked around. They seemed to be in some type of small pipe room. It was hard to see to the other side because of a vertical beam of bright light. Together they moved through the beam of light and came to a brick wall with a man sized hole in it. They stepped through the opening and into the tunnel beyond.

Looking down at the ground, they saw that all the traffic seemed to be towards the right and there was a bloody hand print on the wall just to the right of the opening. So they started off in that direction, unaware that they were following the same pattern as the missing agent and the woman. Amanda kept looking around in obvious curiosity noticing the large pipes that lined the tunnel. "This must be part of the utility tunnel system I remember reading about. The article stated that they sometimes have problems with the homeless moving into them and damaging the pipes."

After about ten minutes they came to an area that was very poorly lighted and without the flashlight they would have missed an unexpected turn. Another fifteen minutes of following the path of disturbed dust and they came to an ancient spiral metal stairway that followed the outer wall of a fifteen foot wide circular shaft. "This certainly looks interesting." Lee commented as he examined it.

The center of the shaft was open and Amanda leaned against the handrail and looked down. "It's a long way down." She commented as she gazed down the Central shaft.

"It looks like that's the way they went." He pointed to the almost total lack of dust on the steps and handrail. "Shall we?" Linking arms they proceeded down. After a long descent they came to a landing and stopped to rest. There was a door sized opening in the side of the shaft at this point.

Lee peered into the poorly illuminated opening. "So, which way now?"

Amanda glanced downward into the shaft and shrugged. "The way down is better lit."

They both checked the dust accumulation on the stairs and found no definitive answer there. Finally they decided to continue downward. After a few more minutes they reached the bottom of the ancient stairway. They stood there for several seconds looking around in amazement at the large chamber they had ended up in.

They found themselves in a large rectangular chamber that was three levels high and multiple openings at all three levels.

There seemed to be plenty of ambient light so Amanda put the flashlight in her pocked as they made their way through the maze of tunnels following the path that showed signs of recent passage.

_**Continued in Part 12**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	12. We Are Not In Kansas Anymore

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 12: We Are Not In Kansas Anymore**

**_10:00 pm_**

The first thing Abigail was aware of was the throbbing in her leg. Then it was the combined smell of a doctor's office, damp earth and hot candle wax. She became aware that she was lying down and that, despite the cool air against her face, she was covered and warm. She also noticed that she could still hear that constant erratic banging she had heard in those dreadful tunnels. The last thing she remembered was a terrible dream full of roaring and the horrifying appearance of that monstrous creature. She opened her eyes to dim lighting and saw that there were rock walls all around her. She soon saw that the light was coming from a single very large candle at the foot of the bed she was laying in.

An incredibly soothing, very masculine, voice came from the shadows in a corner niche over by some type of worn tapestry. "Do not be afraid. You are safe here." The voice was so strong yet so gentle. Abigail tried to peer into that corner but the light from that one candle couldn't reach into the deep shadows that lurked there. All she could see of her guardian/jailor was a large indistinct shape that was only slightly darker than the shadows he occupied.

The voice called out just slightly louder than before. "Catherine, the woman is awake."

A moment later the tapestry shifted aside and an elegantly dressed, beautiful woman entered. "How are you feeling?"

Abigail stared at the vaguely familiar woman for a moment before she answered. "My leg aches. Ah . . . where am I?" After she said it she felt a little embarrassed at how clichéd it had sounded. Then she caught a hint of movement in the dark corner where her large watcher resided.

The young woman responded. "You are in a safe place. No one will harm you here. This is also a secret, hidden place. Whoever shot you won't be able to find you." The woman looked down on her with compassion. "We got the bullet out but it hit the bone and you have a bad fracture there. You are going to have to stay off your feet for a while 'til the bone can start healing properly." The woman smiled at her. "My name is Catherine. Will you tell me yours?"

"It's . . . Abigail." She glanced into the dark corner. The dark figure that she could barely make out, was so still. Visions of the creature again flashed through her mind. She shook her head trying to get that vision out of her mind. "There was a monster in the cave . . ."

The woman, Catherine, placed her hand gently on Abigail's shoulder. She saw a look of sympathy mixed with a hint of sorrow cross Catherine's face. "You don't have to worry about him. He won't hurt you."

The incredible voice spoke again from the shadow. "I'm sorry I frightened you but your companion was carrying a gun."

Abigail's eyes widened as she felt a stab of fear pass through her. "The monster?"

Again that look of sympathy and sorrow crossed Catherine's face. "His name is Vincent." She turned to the shadowy figure. "Vincent why don't you go fetch Father. Tell him his patient is awake now."

As the large figure moved out of the shadow some of the candle light penetrated under his hood for a moment and Abigail caught a glimpse of lion like features before he turned and exited through the tapestry covered doorway. It had **not** been a dream! **It was real!**

Catherine turned back to face Abigail. "He is very sensitive about his appearance." Catherine's eyes got a faraway look. "I know how frightening he can appear but he is actually a very kind and caring soul." That look of sadness again crossed her face then was replaced by a softness that, to Abigail could only be described as love. "He brought you both here so we could save your lives."

Abigail perked up. "John! Where is he? Is he alright?" The concern in her voice was plainly evident to Catherine.

Catherine responded. "He's in the next chamber over. He sustained more serious internal damage and lost a lot of blood from internal bleeding. Father and Peter worked a long time on him. Father and Peter are both very good doctors." Catherine smiled compassionately at Abigail. "He is still unconscious, but Peter tells me that he will recover fully."

A young boy of about seven or eight poked his head out from behind the tapestry. "Vincent said to tell you that Father is checking in on that man and will be in to see you in just a minute." The young boy smiled and was gone.

After a couple of minutes the tapestry was again pulled aside. An elderly man stood there leaning on a cane and holding an old-fashioned black doctor's bag. Behind him, holding back the tapestry, stood that huge creature, his face hidden in the shadows of his hood. But Abigail could clearly see the furry clawed hand that held the tapestry back.

Despite the shabby, multiply patched condition of his clothes, the older man exuded the intelligence and dignity one would expect from a doctor as he entered the chamber. He addressed the elegant young woman. "Good evening Catherine. You're out a bit late tonight."

Catherine responded. "I wanted to see how your new guest's were doing before I went back Above." She turned to Abigail. "Before I go, are there any messages you want me to pass along to a friend or relative, let them know that you're OK?"

Abigail thought about it for a moment. Could she really trust these strange people? They had saved her life. Finally she decided. "Could you get a hold of my daughter, her name is Laura Holt and she works for the Remington Steele Agency in Los Angeles. Just let her know that I'm alive and OK. Tell her not to worry and that I'll explain everything when I see her." Then, glancing around at the rock walls, she added almost under her breath, "Assuming I have some idea by then what did happen."

Catherine nodded. "I'll take care of it first thing tomorrow morning." She turned to the older man. "Good night, Father."

"Good night Catherine." He replied as he lit three more of the large candles, making the room much brighter. Then he turned his attention on Abigail.

Catherine passed through the doorway and threw her arms around the giant's neck, causing the hood to fall back so that Abigail could clearly see his features. His appearance was just as frightening as she remembered. Then to Abigail's surprise, Catherine pulled the creature down into a rather passionate kiss as the creature put his arms around her, letting the tapestry fall into place. Then she heard the woman's voice from beyond the gently swaying tapestry. "Mmmm . . . walk me home?"

As Abigail was trying to process what she had just seen and heard, the doctor placed his bag on the bed next to her. "And how are you feeling today?"

She dragged her attention back to the doctor as she felt obliged to answer. "My leg aches and I'm very tired."

The man nodded. "That's to be expected. You're still a bit anemic because you lost so much blood. It's going to take a few days for your body to completely rebuild your blood supply. As for the achiness, it's not safe to give you any strong pain relievers while your blood count is so low." He pulled a small amber pill container from his bag. "You can however take these Tylenol. If you need them." He handed her the container. "Now let's take a look at your injury, see how it's healing."

As the doctor, they had called Father, began to check her injury she realized for the first time that she was dressed in a warm soft woolen gown that had the same, worn yet clean, patchwork look as the bed covers and the doctor's clothes.

~ o ~

At first Amanda had been fascinated by this strange subterranean world they had found. She had remarked to Lee about every new or unusual feature. It had been a little over an hour since Lee and Amanda had started exploring down here, and for the last twenty minutes they had been hearing the distant sounds of someone banging erratically on something metal. Lee had said that it sounded like some type of coded messages but it was not any code he could recognize. They also had not been able to figure out where the sound was coming from. The echoes in these tunnels made it difficult to get a directional fix.

They came to another fork and took the right hand branch almost without conscious choice. They were both getting tired and a bit discouraged. The tunnel they were now in was fairly dark and she had pulled the flashlight out again. She shined it downward on the floor. "Lee, I think we made a wrong turn at that last junction." She remarked worriedly.

"Why?" He faced her.

"Look at the floor. This dust hasn't been disturbed in ages." She pointed the flashlight at the ground.

They were startled by the distant rumble of a subway passing far overhead. Then dirt was falling from the ceiling. "This doesn't look good, let's turn back." Lee remarked as he turned to head back the way they had come.

Suddenly there was a grinding noise causing them both to look down. Lee shoved Amanda backwards, and then the floor gave way under him. "**Lee!**" She cried out as he disappeared through a fifteen foot wide hole that suddenly appeared in the floor. Then the air was filled with billowing dust and she was temporarily blind.

As the air began to clear, Amanda cautiously edged towards the side of what appeared to be a ten foot deep hole and peered down into it. "**Lee!**" She called as she shone her light on the motionless figure at the bottom of the hole. "**Lee!**"

He didn't answer so Amanda decided to climb down to him. She was about halfway down when a rock shifted under her foot causing her to slide the rest of the way down. She landed awkwardly and felt a sharp pain in her ankle. She crawled over to Lee to see if she could help him. There was a long flat chunk of rock across his chest and right shoulder. His head was bleeding and he was barely breathing. Exerting all her strength she was unable to move the heavy rock. He also wouldn't wake up when she tried to get some kind of reaction from him.

Amanda did what little she could for him. She found and shoved a loose stone under one end of the piece of rock laying across him in an attempt to relieve some of the weight on his chest. This seemed to help because he started to breathe a little deeper. Next she dealt with the head wound using her boy scout first aid training. Once she had done all she could for him, she tried to get out of the hole to go for help. The sides were very steep and with her injured ankle she was unable to get out of the pit. Finally in desperation she started calling out for help.

After what seemed like an eternity, she was becoming fairly worried that they might die down here when she heard a voice call out from the darkness above. "How badly are you injured?"

She looked up, shining her flashlight up at the source of the voice. "**Oh, my gosh!**" She exclaimed in shocked surprise.

Standing above them at the edge of the pit was the creature from Catherine Chandler's balcony, big as life and even more frightening up this close.

_**Continued in Part 13**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	13. Down The Rabbit Hole, Again

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 13: Down The Rabbit Hole . . . Again**

Vincent and Catherine were heading towards his chamber and talking about the two guests when they both became aware of the '**Intruder Alert**' message at the same time and stopped walking. Vincent looked up at the ceiling in exasperation. "Again?" He shook his head. "Where are they all coming from?"

As they listened the message changed. Catherine remarked. "Injured? You'd better go," she urged. "I'll meet you back in the infirmary."

The alert message stated that the intruder had been discovered in the lower caverns below the home tunnels when one of them was heard calling for help. Since the message said that the intruders may be injured, Vincent sent out a message on the pipes for two people with a stretcher to follow him as he felt himself being overcome with a sense of déjà vu.

~ o ~

Father was talking to Abigail about his world and the reasons for keeping their existence secret. He stopped talking and began listening intently. She saw a look of alarm spread across his face.

"Again!" He exclaimed. "Where are all these intruders coming from?" He shook his head. "Something has to. . ." Once again he was listening intently. The look of alarm shifted to one of deep concern. "That does not sound good . . . If you will pardon me my dear; it looks like I may need this chamber very soon." He pulled back the tapestry. The outer chamber was empty. He carefully tied the tapestry up out of the way and turned to Abigail. "If you do not mind, it looks like I will have to try to help you move to one of these outer beds."

Father placed his free arm around Abigail's waist and, leaning heavily on his cane, helped her to get off the operating table. As he was trying, with some difficulty, to help Abigail make it to the outer chamber, Catherine came trotting back into the infirmary. "Ah, Catherine, you're still here, good. Will you help me move Mrs. Holt here over to the main infirmary chamber? It sounds like I may need this room soon."

~ o ~

Vincent stared down into the sinkhole at the man and woman trapped in the bottom. They both appeared to be injured. It looked like the man was unconscious and a large piece of rock had fallen across his chest. There was _surprise_ and _fear_ mixed with a bit of _pain_ and just the slightest hint of _curiosity_ coming from the woman as she stared up at him, but the surprise and fear were not as strong as he had come to expect.

He called down to her. "Hang on, help is coming."

"We're here, Vincent." He heard Kanin call from behind him. "Where is the intruder?"

"There are two of them and they're over here. Looks like they fell through the tunnel floor." He called back to them.

The area became much brighter as Kanin and Pascal approached. Pascal set the lantern he was carrying down next to the pit. Kanin set the stretcher against the wall and uncoiled the rope he had fortunately thought to bring.

While Vincent held the rope Kanin and Pascal lowered themselves into the pit. Together, they lifted the stone off of Lee. After a quick check of both Lee and Amanda they decided to bring Amanda up on the stretcher first, since she appeared to only have an injured ankle. Then they would bring up Lee last since they wanted to move him as little as possible and that way they would only have to shift him once. After they got Amanda out and settled against the wall beyond the sinkhole they went back down for Lee. Very carefully they loaded Lee into the stretcher then Vincent pulled it up while Pascal guided it.

As Amanda watched this terrifying creature her mind went back to that book of poetry in Catherine's apartment. The other two men had called him Vincent. Could this be the same Vincent who had written on the inside cover of that book?

Once they had Lee's stretcher safely settled on the floor beyond the sinkhole, Pascal held Lee's gun out to the creature. "Vincent, he had this on him."

Vincent sighed as he glanced down at it. "Another one?" He sensed an extra spurt of _fear_ from the woman, probably reacting to their discovery of the gun. He addressed Pascal. "You hang on to it. Give it to Catherine when we get back to the infirmary. She can decide what to do with it."

The creature, Vincent, checked Lee over first while Amanda looked on anxiously. "Broken ribs and collar bone, mild concussion." He announced as he examined him. Then he turned to Amanda. "May I?" He asked as he gingerly reached for her ankle.

Not trusting herself to speak, she simply nodded as she fearfully watched his clawed hands reaching for her ankle. She swallowed hard as he lifted her leg in a surprisingly gentle grip. She winced painfully as he carefully moved her foot.

He looked up at her with a half smile, understanding and sympathy reflected in his remarkable blue eyes. "It's not broken but it **is** sprained."

His amazing voice seemed to reach something primal deep inside her, making her feel unaccountably warm inside. She found herself thinking again about the book of sonnets in Catherine's apartment and the kiss she had witnessed on Catherine's balcony. As she looked up at him the words of bookmarked poem suddenly became extremely poignant.

He stood up and held out his hand to her. "Can you stand up?" Timidly she took his hand and he lifted her to her feet. "See if you can you walk on it."

She put her weight on it, then cried out in pain and would have fallen had he not quickly reached out and caught her around the waist.

"It looks like I will have to carry you." He remarked and picked her up before she could respond. Then she found herself looking into his incredible blue eyes. Her mind kept alternating between the description of what he had done to the death squad and the passionate kiss she had witnessed earlier on Catherine's balcony.

Kanin and Pascal carried the stretcher with Lee on it. The lantern was hooked onto the handle at the front end of the stretcher. Vincent carried Amanda and, wherever possible, walked beside the stretcher. He seemed to sense her need to watch over Lee.

Lee's first impression was sharp pain in his chest, head and collar bone. Next he became aware of a general swaying movement. He was flat on his back and moving. He must be on a stretcher. Cautiously he barely cracked opened his eyes. He immediately saw the creature walking beside his stretcher and carrying Amanda. He closed his eyes then barely shifted his left arm, checking for his gun. It was missing. Then he heard a voice from above his head. "He's waking up." He opened his eyes and looked at the speaker, a man with an almost gnome like appearance. "Stay still. You have some broken bones and a concussion." Admonished the gnome like man carrying the head end of his stretcher.

Amanda peered over at him. "Lee, thank goodness. Are you OK?"

"I think so." He replied as he nervously watched this huge dangerous looking creature carrying his wife. It hurt his chest to speak or to even breathe deeply.

The creature looked down at him. "Lee. Is that your name? Mine is Vincent. You have some cracked ribs and a broken collar bone. The woman has a badly sprained ankle. We're taking you to our doctor. He will take care of your injuries."

Other than Vincent's assurances that they would be all right and Amanda's report of how worried she had been about him, there was very little talking. As Lee lay in the swaying stretcher he kept watching the creature called Vincent that was carrying his wife. The whole thing made him very _uneasy_ but there was little he could do about it. Even if he still had his gun he doubted he could use it in his current condition. His broken collar bone would have made it impossible to aim, much less fire it successfully.

Amanda meanwhile was trying to reconcile her conflicted feelings. Being carried by this powerful creature made her feel both _very safe_ and _very frightened_ at the same time. She had begun to accept that he meant her no harm but at the same time he was very powerful and dangerous in appearance. Yet there was also something so magnificent about his strong leonine features that made it hard to look away.

Soon they were heading up the same spiral stone stairway that they had come down. Somewhere about halfway up they left the stairwell and entered some tunnels that were reasonably well lit by torches and there were people here. The people they encountered were all dressed in multiple layers of worn and patched clothing. Though their clothing said street person, Lee noticed that they all appeared clean, healthy and happy. Also they all cheerfully greeted Vincent by name. Amanda had also been taking this all in, amazed at these people's casual acceptance of this strange frightening creature.

Occasionally they passed openings to small chambers that looked like living quarters as they went down the tunnels. Lee began to realize that there was a good sized community living down here. Amanda was fascinated by the occasional glimpses of hominess she saw in those chambers. The rest of the time she was either glancing down worriedly at Lee or staring up intrigued at Vincent. Both drew her attention.

At one point they came upon a little girl that couldn't be more than six or seven years old. She stood in the middle of the tunnel rubbing sleepy eyes. Vincent stopped and, still holding Amanda, knelt down to address the young girl. "Cindy, what are you doing out of bed this late at night?"

Kanin and Pascal had stopped to wait for Vincent. It was almost like they knew that Lee didn't want to be separated from Amanda.

The little girl approached Vincent. "I couldn't sleep." She looked over at Lee then at Amanda. "Are they hurt, too?"

Vincent smiled as he answered her. "Yes, they were in a dangerous area and the tunnel floor collapsed under them. I'm taking them to Father."

The little girl smiled at Amanda and rested her hand on Amanda's arm. "Father will fix you right up. He's a real good doctor." She got a little more serious. "But he does get a bit grumpy and fusses at you for going into a dangerous area and getting yourself hurt."

Vincent chuckled then gave her a more serious frown. "Shouldn't you be getting back to bed now?"

She looked down. "OK." Then after a second she looked up at Vincent. "Will you come read me a story?"

Vincent stood up. "I have to take these people to the infirmary but I will come by and check in on you afterwards. We'll see about a story then."

The little girl wrapped her arms around his legs. "OK." Then she trotted up the tunnel and around a corner.

Lee had been fascinated by the actions of the child. She had showed absolutely no fear at all of that Vincent creature. In fact she had shown genuine affection for him like he was a family member. He found himself wondering what might show up around the next corner.

As soon as the little girl had disappeared through a side opening, they continued. Another twenty feet along the tunnel they turned left into a side opening and entered a larger chamber that showed all the signs of a classic infirmary. On the other side of this new chamber and to the right was a smaller chamber blocked off by a battered old folding wooden room divider. To the left was an apparent opening that was blocked on the other side by some type of tapestry. There were two examination beds in this chamber. Amanda saw Catherine talking to some woman that was lying on one of the beds.

Vincent set Amanda down on the other examination bed. Catherine turned towards them as the other woman shifted position to get a look at the new arrivals.

Amanda got her first good look at the woman that Catherine had been talking to and was so surprised that she nearly fell out of the bed. "Mother! What are you doing here?"

Lee looked first at Amanda then at the woman. "Mrs. West? How did you end up here?"

The woman looked over at Lee and Amanda slightly perplexed. "I beg your pardon. Were you referring to me?" She asked uncertainly.

Amanda felt confused and uncertain. "Mother, it's me Amanda."

At this point an elderly man entered the chamber from the tapestry covered opening. He was using a crude homemade cane and was wearing the same type of clothing as the rest of the regular inhabitants. The older man frowned at the room in general. Lee noticed him out of the corner of his eye as he stared at the older woman in the other bed.

"I'm sorry dear but I don't know you." The woman shook her head.

Amanda was becoming worried and more confused. "What's wrong? Have you lost your memory? You're Dorothy West. I'm your daughter, Amanda King. Don't you remember me?" There was just a hint of desperation in her voice. "You were at home with Phillip and Jamie when I left yesterday."

The woman frowned. "No Dear. My name is Abigail Holt. I have two daughters, Laura and Frances. I've never had a daughter named Amanda." She looked at Amanda with real concern as she sat up with a slight groan on her bed.

Lee spoke up. "But you are Mrs. West. I've met you several times." He was also feeling puzzled. "I talked to you yesterday just before Amanda and I left for the airport." In the back of his mind he was also thinking that Abigail Holt was the name of the woman that Catherine's report said had been with Paul when he disappeared.

Abigail shook her head. "I'm sorry young man but you're wrong. I've been in New York for the last two months."

The creature Vincent stood beside the older man as they both observed the fascinating verbal exchange.

Catherine chimed in at this point. "She's been down here with us for the last three days." Catherine thought for a minute then she reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. "I don't know how convincing this is, considering how many false identities have been involved in this case." She looked pointedly at Lee and Amanda. "But here is a copy of her driver's license. She left her purse behind in the apartment. Also the police have already been in contact with one of her daughters." She glanced over at Abigail. "And the other one has been in town since day before yesterday." She handed the paper to Amanda then she addressed Abigail. "Since she's in town, I'm going to try to meet with Laura tomorrow morning and deliver your message for you." She mused to herself. "I think maybe I should also talk to her boss. I've become very curious about Remington Steele."

Amanda looked over the image on the piece of paper then looked back at Abigail. "You have the same birthday as my mother. And you're a dead ringer for her. You even sound like her."

Catherine had a sudden brainstorm. "Amanda, do you know if your mother is adopted?"

Amanda's eyes opened wide. "Yes, she was adopted as an infant." Abigail's eyes had also opened wide at the question and the answer.

Catherine responded. "We did a background check and Abigail was also adopted from an orphanage in Virginia."

Amanda's head was spinning. "That's where Mother comes from."

Pascal and Kanin were both too fascinated by the ongoing conversation to notice that they were still holding the stretcher.

At this point Vincent couldn't help commenting. "I feel like I've just wandered into some kind of fantasy story."

Amanda, Lee and Abigail all looked at him in surprise. "You're kidding." They all three remarked simultaneously.

Catherine broke up laughing. The old man chuckled. Lee could also hear the barely suppressed snickering of the two men holding his stretcher. Once she recovered Catherine addressed Amanda. "Why don't I check on your mother tomorrow and I'll see if there is a real connection between your mother and Abigail." She faced Abigail. "Right after that I will try to meet with Laura."

Lee had been paying close attention to the ongoing conversation and had perked up at Remington's name. He addressed Abigail. "Your daughter is the Laura holt that works for Remington Steele?"

Abigail responded. "My daughter is married to Remington Steele." Everybody reacted to that news with surprise. She elaborated. "They kept the wedding quiet for business reasons. Nobody expects a private detective to be married."

Lee coughed then groaned from the pain. The old man suddenly became all business. "Pascal, bring him in here." He ordered indicating the tapestry.

Vincent pulled the tapestry back and they brought Lee into the smaller chamber. They set the stretcher on the examination bed and withdrew.

The old man stepped up to Lee. "What have we got here?"

Vincent spoke. "He has some broken ribs and a broken collar bone. Also he may have a concussion." He then nodded to them. "If you will pardon me, I must go. I have a promise to a certain little girl that I must keep."

"Yes, Yes, that's fine." The old man said as he began to examine Lee. "Well let's just have a look shall we."

Looking past the old man - (doctor?) – through the tapestry that the creature was still holding the back, Lee saw one of the stretcher carriers hand his missing gun to Cathy Chandler and whisper something to her. She glanced over at him then checked the gun over. She removed the clip and the chambered round and placed them in separate pockets. Then the tapestry fell back into place as the creature left and the old man proceeded to check out Lee's various broken bones.

~ x x x x x ~

_**Continued in Part 14**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	14. Kidnapped

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 14: Kidnapped**

**_Morning (Day 4)_**

When Catherine arrived at work the next morning she initiated a background check on Dorothy West. While she was at her desk waiting for the results she thought about the call she had made to Amanda's home just a few minutes ago to verify that Amanda's mother was still there. The coincidences in that area were piling up and her conclusions sounded like something out of a bad soap opera but the facts left very little room for interpretation. After a short while, Catherine decided it was time to talk to Laura Holt. She decided to arrange a meeting at a certain deli that was owned by a helper, had direct access to the tunnels and was also close to Laura Holt's hotel. A quick check of her calendar then Catherine called Laura's hotel room.

"Laura Holt?" . . .

"My name is Catherine Chandler and I would like to meet with you. I have news of your mother, Abigail Holt." . . .

"Could you meet me at the corner deli at Central Park West and West 63rd street". . .

"Fine I'll see you there in an hour." . . .

Laura looked over at Remington surprise and uncertainty in her eyes. "What should we do? She's already seen you." She shook her head. "And how did she know I was here?"

Remington had been listening on the extension. "You meet her. I'll keep watch from somewhere close by." He touched her arm. "And watch yourself. Her boss said that she was the best investigator he had ever had."

~ o ~

Laura and Remington stood together in the park across the street from the corner deli where the meeting was to take place. There was still ten minutes until the planned meeting. A taxi pulled up and an elegantly dressed woman stepped out, paid and entered the deli.

"That's her." Remington announced.

Laura took a deep breath and headed across the street. When she entered the deli she spotted Catherine sitting at a table near the door and watching her enter.

Catherine addressed her. "Laura Holt?" Laura nodded acknowledgement. "Please sit down. We need to talk." Laura sat at the indicated chair. "First off, I need to know how much you know about this affair, and then I have news for you about your mother."

Laura's heart leaped to her throat. "Is she OK. Is she alive?" There was desperation in her voice.

Catherine watched her for a few seconds gauging, evaluating. She made a decision. "I've seen and talked to your mother. She's been shot but she's fine." She paused watching Laura's reaction as she leaned forward and spoke as to a friend. "She asked me to pass a message along to you. I'm to tell you that she's just fine and that she would explain everything to you when she sees you. I'm not sure but I think that she didn't want you to know that she was hurt." Catherine sat back and was once again all business. "Now, what do you know about the shootout?"

Laura was both relieved and worried. Where was her mother? Could she trust this woman? The waiter approached for their orders. Laura was hungry so they both ordered sandwiches. The waiter returned shortly with their food.

Laura decided to trust just a little. "Mother called me from New York and said that she needed my help. Then I heard shots and mother screamed. Then more shots and silence." She looked Catherine in the eye. "I took the first plane here but I haven't been able to find out what happened to her." She was practically pleading for information. "Can you at least tell me where she is?"

"She's safe with some friends of mine." Catherine responded. "There are some very nasty people after ether her or her male companion. I was hoping you could shed some light on the subject."

"I wish I could. I didn't even know she was seeing anyone." Laura shrugged. She was holding back but she just didn't want to give anything away until she had more information. "You still haven't told me where she is."

Catherine shook her head. "I wish I could, but there are too many lives at stake. Even if she wasn't the intended target, the gunmen will see her as a link to the man." Catherine saw the disappointment and distrust in her eyes and added, "I can however deliver messages, and I promise as soon as it's safe I will get her back to you."

Laura decided that it was better than nothing so she wrote out a message and gave it to Catherine. Maybe Remington could follow her and find out where her mother was when the message was delivered.

The rest of the meal went quickly. The conversation revolved around what was known about the shootout and what Laura's mother was like. Each woman was subtly probing the other for any scrap of information. When the meal was over Catherine insisted on paying the check. As they headed for the door Laura spotted Remington in the park and was trying to figure out how to signal him that he should follow Catherine.

~ o ~

While Remington watched Laura approach the deli he noticed a dark van pull up near by. It remained parked with the engine running. He gave it a moments notice, labeling it a detail of interest. Often it was the peripheral details of interest that turned out to be important so he kept it in the back of his mind. Fortunately the women were seated near the window so he could keep his eye on them from his location. He noticed when Laura wrote something down on a piece of note paper and handed it to Catherine. That was an interesting development.

As the women were finishing their meal he saw five burly men get out of the dark van. That was a troubling development. Remington hailed an approaching cab. It passed him by. He stared after it cursing fluently. The two women were approaching the door and the five men were closing in. Then he was startled as another taxi pulled over and stopped within one foot of him. He looked back up to see them exiting the deli.

As Catherine and Laura exited the deli the five men grabbed them. Catherine immediately fought back with all the training she had learned from Isaac Stubbs. A half a beat later Laura also launched to the attack. Within a second one man was down unconscious and one was curled in a ball writhing with pain. Just as they were about to make a break for it, a gun shot rang out and Laura went down, a bullet in her leg.

The man with the gun barked out, "Next shot kills." Catherine stopped, the fight taken out of her. The two other men that remained standing grabbed Catherine and shoved her in the van where another man held a gun on her. The first gunman then waved his gun at Laura. "Her too." They lifted Laura, none too gently, and essentially tossed her into the van causing her to cry out in pain.

Across the street Remington stood helplessly cursing as he watched the situation develop. Having no weapon he could only watch. The cabby exclaimed, "Damn, I'm getting the hell outta here." Remington reached in and grabbed his shoulder with a strength fueled by desperation. "You're going nowhere. Richard Blain, F.B.I. and I'm commandeering you and your cab on official government business."

When the two men still standing turned to help the two downed men the apparent leader stopped them. "Leave'im." He ordered as he stepped into the van. One of the others got out the word, "But . . ." Then the leader put six shots in quick succession into the downed men. "Go." He called out and pulled the side door shut as the van accelerated into the traffic.

Remington dived into the back of the taxi. "Follow that van." He called out over the sound of screaming onlookers. The driver pulled out and followed the van but it soon became apparent that they were losing ground. "Your losing them, can't you go any faster." He cried out in frustration.

"I'm doing the best I can mister." The cabby whined nervously.

Glancing at the rearview mirror Remington could see anxiety clearly written in the cabby's face and shook his head. "I had heard that New York cabbies were the most fearless drivers in the world." He paused. "I guess I was misinformed."

Stung by the implication that he was letting down his fellow drivers, the cabby redoubled his efforts and was soon catching up with the wildly careening van. "No need to get too close." Remington admonished. "Just don't lose sight of them." For a change, the quarry was an easy to spot van, rather than some non-descript car, so they were able to hang back and follow from a safe distance.

Inside the van Laura was groaning in pain and holding her wounded leg. She was bleeding but she was alive. She had seen Remington with the flagged down taxi just before all hell had broken loose. Originally she had intended to make a dash for the cab then she had been shot. She was sure that Remington was right now in that taxi and following them. She had learned to have faith in his devious nature. He would find a way to rescue her. She just had to remain alive long enough for Remington to reach her. She wondered how she would explain his, fortunately timely, appearance to Miss Chandler though.

Meanwhile, Catherine was flashing back to that moment over three years ago when three men wielding knives had snatched her and tossed her into a van, much like this one, irrevocably changing the direction of her life. This time there was one major difference. Catherine knew that Vincent would soon be coming to her rescue just like he had done so many times before. She could even feel his emotions and knew that he was already on his way. She just had to remain alive long enough for Vincent to reach her. She wondered how she would explain his, rather unusual, appearance to Laura Holt though.

The van soon ended up at a small warehouse beside the East River. Remington had the driver stop two blocks back and paid him off, adding a generous tip, then he told the cabbie to call the police. "Tell them that Catherine Chandler of the DA office and another woman have been kidnapped and brought to this address." As the cab pulled away Remington quickly took cover beside the entry of the nearest building and began studying the warehouse that the two women were being taken into. While he watched, some men quickly changed the license plates on the van then jumped in and drove it off. Now there were only two men on guard outside. He could handle them but he had no idea what he might find inside the building. He didn't like having so many unknown variables but he suspected that time was short and he had to move quickly.

~ o ~

Catherine and Laura were dragged into a small warehouse building. Just ten feet inside the door were dozens of boxes and large crates stacked from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. One of the men walked over and pushed on one of the large wooden crates causing it to swing effortlessly inward. As they passed through the opening it became obvious the wall of boxes and crates was just that, a false wall. Inside were several cubical style offices and along one wall was rack after rack of electronic equipment. Though this place was obviously set up to handle a staff of around thirty or forty people there were only seven or eight people present including the three that came in with them. The girls were dragged to a small enclosed office at the back.

As Laura glanced around she knew with a sinking feeling that they had both seen too much and would not be leaving here alive. The only thing that kept her going was the hope that Remington would soon be coming to her rescue. She glanced over at Miss Chandler. The way she was looking around Laura could tell that she had come to the same conclusion. She marveled at the way Catherine had maintained her calm despite the apparent hopelessness of their situation.

They were shoved roughly into two chairs and tied down. After about fifteen minutes a new, well dressed, man approached them and addressed Catherine. "We want to know where John Abbot is and you will tell us."

Catherine glared at him defiantly. "We both know that you're going to kill both of us as soon as you get what you want so why should we tell you anything."

The man seemed momentarily taken aback by her attitude, this was unexpected, then he responded. "I could play a little game of Russian roulette 'til one of you talks or dies." There was a cold malevolence to his tone. "Or I could just beat on you both 'til one talks." He grinned but there was no humor in his eyes. "Eventually you will be begging me to kill you."

Laura took courage from Catherine's example. "It won't wash. You kill one of us and the other has even more incentive to clam up." She glanced over at Catherine. "Beating on us is meaningless, the longer we hold out, the longer we live. Again the incentive for both of us is to shut up."

Catherine could feel Vincent's approach, it wouldn't be long now. She just had to keep this creep off guard for another minute or two. "And what if the one you kill is the only one of us with the information you want?" She smiled at him but her eyes were cold green steel. "It was a foolish tactical error to let us realize the hopelessness of our situation. It leaves you very little to bargain with and us with every reason not to talk. If one of us admitted to not knowing anything, it's death for that person as well. Again, whether either of us knows anything or not, both of us have a very strong reason to tell you nothing and you have nothing left to bargain with."

This was not a good situation. The interrogator had not expected these two women to be this tough or intelligent. He couldn't let them go, especially after what they had seen, and they both knew it. The damn woman was right. He had left himself with very little to bargain with.

~ o ~

Remington had managed to separate and dispatch both guards. They were both tucked into an adjacent warehouse, out cold. He then circled around back and found a way onto the roof of the building. The ladder up the back was enclosed in a locked wire screen. He quickly picked the lock and climbed to the roof. The first thing he noticed was the unusually large number of antennas that covered the roof. He located two rows of sky lights. Moving slowly so as not to make the ceiling creak, he went first to the skylight near the back of the building.

Looking in he saw Laura and Miss Chandler tied to chairs. There were two men leaning against the wall by the door that he assumed opened into the center of the building, the skylight was almost directly above them. One had his gun out and was fiddling with it, (probably as a not so subtle threat). The other was cleaning his fingernails with a very large folding knife. There was another door on the opposite side of the office that was blocked by a file cabinet and only visible from his rooftop vantage. The third man, the apparent leader, was standing before the two women and appeared to be very agitated. His back was to the guards and the skylight. Remington tested the skylight and found that it was not locked. Very slowly he raised the hatch praying that it didn't make any noise.

Both of the girls noticed Remington lifting the skylight above them. Laura was relieved that Remington was here but she was worried that it was three armed men against one unarmed, unless Remington had liberated a gun somewhere. And how were they going to get out afterward. Catherine was concerned. Vincent would be here any second and she had no idea how she was going to explain Vincent to Laura, much less that C.I.A. agent at the skylight.

_**Continued in Part 15**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	15. Another Rabbit, Steele Another Rbt Hole

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 15: Another Rabbit, Steele Another Rabbit Hole  
**

Finally pushed to his limit by the unexpected resistance of both women the interrogator struck out at the one closest to him. Almost immediately the room reverberated with a terrifying roar. Without thinking, Remington flung the skylight fully open and jumped, landing feet first on the guard with the gun and causing his head to slam first into the wall then onto the hard floor. At that same instant, the other hidden door crashed open, accompanied by the sound of a gunshot. The filing cabinet flew halfway across the room as Vincent burst in, still roaring. With one vicious swipe Vincent raked the interrogator, throwing him against the wall next to Remington and leaving four bloody gashes across his abdomen. Remington swung around startled and fell back against the wall in fear at the horrifying sight of Vincent in full rage. Laura and the other guard both screamed in terror. Again Vincent roared as he raised his claws to strike. The other guard promptly voided his bladder and fainted.

Laura's heart was pounding hard and fast in her chest with horror as the huge monster turned towards Remington. It was the lion monster she had seen in her dream back aboard the plane, and it was far more terrifying in reality than it had been in her nightmare. She glanced back at the bloody interrogator seeing the damage it had done with one swipe of those terrible claws. Had that happened to her mother? Was it about to happen to Remington? She felt like she was about to pass out. She wanted to cry out but her voice froze in her throat.

The creature turned its gaze towards Remington. He cringed, eyes closed, expecting the blow that never came. Instead Catherine called out, "Vincent." When he opened one eye he saw that the creature had turned it's back to him and was approaching -(a smiling?)- Catherine Chandler. In fact there seemed to be real affection in her eyes as she gazed up at that massive frightening monster.

After a moment's hesitation, Remington took advantage of the monster's shift of attention. Glancing around, he spotted the first guard's gun sticking out from under the filing cabinet. No help there. Heart in his throat, Remington edged cautiously along the wall towards Laura, picking up the second guard's knife along the way.

Laura gazed up at the fearful leonine visage, cringing in fear. What was it going to do now? The creature approached Catherine and, in an unexpectedly gentle manner, reached out and caressed her cheek where the man had struck her. Then in a surprisingly gentle voice that sent shivers down Laura's spine, the creature spoke. "Catherine, I'm sorry he hurt you. I came as quickly as I could."

As Remington carefully worked his way around the edge of the room towards where Laura was tied, he kept a wary eye on the monster that stood entirely too close to her. He kept seeing the damage it had done to the interrogator and remembering Laura's description of her nightmare on the plane. He reached Laura and began to cut her bonds. The monster, glanced over at them, then stepped behind Catherine and, with one quick swipe, cut her ropes with his claws. It took Remington another second's worth of frantic sawing before Laura's ropes parted. Catherine stood up, turned and embraced the monster then, much to Remington and Laura's utter astonishment, planted a very solid kiss on his unique feline lips.

Catherine looked over at Laura and Remington who both stared openmouthed at her. Then she looked over at the outer door where sounds of shouting and pounding could be clearly heard. "I think you two should come with us before anyone else comes in." Then she pointed to the bleeding man. "Vincent, I think you should bring him along."

At this point Remington surreptitiously folded the purloined knife and placed it in his pocket, hoping that the monster hadn't noticed. Then he helped Laura to her feet.

The monster picked up the man like he weighed nothing and slung him over his shoulder causing the man to grunt in pain. After they had all passed through the destroyed door, the monster set the man down and, while Catherine quickly checked the unconscious man's wounds, righted the filling cabinet and, after kicking the pieces of splintered door back through the opening, pulled it back into place, effectively concealing the second doorway.

Catherine looked up at the creature and commented. "He'll survive. He's not really hurt all that badly. Father can fix him up then we'll decide what to do about him." She stood up and stepped back.

The monster picked up the man and with Catherine right behind him proceeded down the flight of stairs that was on the other side of the door. With his arm around Laura's waist to support her, Remington and Laura followed them to a dusty old basement. There the monster led the way through another shattered door into a long underground utility tunnel.

After a couple of turns they were deep in an impossible maze of rough hewn tunnels and Remington realized that he was thoroughly lost. Laura was limping pretty badly when Catherine stopped them. She took a quick look at Laura's injury which was located four inches above the knee and still bleeding. Catherine thought for a moment then pulled off her expensive silk scarf and used it to bind up Laura's wound.

Remington noticed that Laura was shivering so he took off his jacket and placed it on her shoulders and, with his arm again around her waist, they started walking again. After only about a dozen steps and a couple of suppressed grunts of pain from her, Remington just picked Laura up without any comment and proceeded to carry her. The monster glanced back at them then slowed his pace.

Remington couldn't help noticing the way the monster had his free arm around Catherine Chandler as they walked ahead of him and Laura. Their whole physical attitude spoke of close intimacy despite the body slung over the monsters other shoulder. It was so hard to reconcile the image he saw ahead of him and the terrifying monster he had seen in that office a few minutes ago. It just didn't make any sense.

~ o ~

The very angry man entered the office and looked around. One of his men was out cold. The other was curled up in the corner babbling to himself and staring into space. Blood stains marked the wall and floor near the unconscious man. The two empty seats with cut ropes were mute testimony to the two escaped captives. He glanced back at the mumbling man and wrinkled his nose at the pungent odor of urine. The look of unreasoning terror in that man's eyes sent a shiver up his spine.

He glanced up at the open skylight. How the hell did they manage to get all the way up there? The most disturbing aspect was the gun that lay on the floor near the center of the room. The only shot that had been heard had been fired from his own man's gun. Worst of all, one of his partners was now missing as well.

"We're burned here." He commented through clenched teeth. He turned and barked out. "I want everything out of here. Everything goes and I mean everything. I don't want to see so much as a single loose staple left behind." He glanced down at the two downed men. "And get those two out of my sight." He whipped around and strode hurriedly out of the room and away from the unsettling scene it presented.

~ o ~

Shortly after he picked Laura up, Remington began to notice a stinging sensation in his left arm. Soon it developed into a nagging pulsing ache. Since the pain was well within bearable limits and it didn't seem to interfere with his ability to hold up Laura, he decided to ignore it and kept quiet about it. He now thought he remembered hearing the gun go off when he landed on that guard. The bullet must have grazed his arm.

If not for the presence of the creature and the badly injured man and the pain in her leg, Laura would have thoroughly enjoyed being carried by Remington. She laid her head against his shoulder. As she thought about it she decided that she was enjoying it in spite of those things. It felt like some sort of surreal movie. In fact she found herself thinking about the French version of Beauty and the Beast that she and Remington had watched together a few months ago. She glanced around half expecting to see arms sticking out of the walls holding torches. Under her breath she muttered. "Beauty And The Beast, Jean Marais, Josette Day, Jean Cocteau, DisCina 1946."

As Remington watched Catherine and the monster walking ahead of him, he couldn't help wondering what kind of bizarre nightmare they had gotten themselves into. Laura's presence in his arms made him feel much better though he didn't know what he could possibly do about it if that creature attacked them. The knife he had taken would not be much use against that monster's claws. He heard Laura's comment and quietly responded. "The only thing missing is the magic torches." His remark caused Laura to smile.

Remington noticed the creature whispering something to Catherine which caused her to glance back at them then she chuckled and whispered something to the creature. After a few minutes Remington kissed the top of Laura's head that was, conveniently, resting against his shoulder as he wondered what those two were planning to do with Laura and himself. Mostly to take his mind off the more gruesome of his imagined possibilities and the throbbing ache in his arm, he quietly asked Laura. "Did she tell you anything about your mother?"

Laura looked up at him relieved at the momentary distraction from the injured man draped across the creature's shoulder. "She told me that Mother had been shot but she was well taken care of and was doing fine." She shook her head. "But she wouldn't tell me where mother is hidden."

Remington saw the creature again whisper something to Catherine, who then looked back over her shoulder at Laura. "We're taking you to your mother right now." Catherine told them.

After a few more minutes the creature again whispered to Catherine. They stopped and she approached speaking to Remington. "Vincent says that you are in pain." Then her eyebrows rose. "Your shirt . . . What happened to your arm?"

"It's nothing." Remington denied.

Catherine shook her head. "It's **not** 'nothing' if you're bleeding." She was all serious business. "Set Laura down here and let me look at it." There was definite no-non-sense tone to her voice.

Remington reluctantly complied and set Laura down. Laura became very upset when she saw that his left sleeve was soaked in blood from his upper bicep, down to his elbow.

Catherine asked Remington, "Do you still have that knife you took from that guard?"

From the look on her face Remington knew that she knew and was merely asking as a courtesy. Reluctantly, he pulled it out of his pocket and handed it over to her. She took it and sliced open his shirtsleeve. She carefully examined the bullet wound. It had entered the back of his arm two inches above the elbow and exited the outside near the top of his bicep. Catherine had him flex his arm to verify that it was still functional. Then she cut the unstained lower part of the sleeve into two strips that she used to bind up the entrance and exit wounds.

Once finished she closed the knife and handed it back to Remington. "We still have about another thirty to forty-five minutes to go. Can you carry Laura that far?" She asked him.

After taking a moment to recover from the surprise of getting the knife back, he straightened his back and answered with assurance. "I can carry her as far and as long as necessary."

Catherine smiled at his masculine bravado and responded. "All right then, we had better get going."

Catherine helped Laura get back to her feet so Remington could pick her up more easily and they were again on their way.

~ o ~

John awoke to the sound of the banging on the pipes and became aware that he was lying down and his side ached. He checked and found that his side had been bandaged. Careful exploration revealed that his wound had been stitched up. Then he became aware of the cool air against his face and the smell of burning candles mixed with a whiff of disinfectant. It reminded him of military field hospitals. He opened his eyes and carefully looked around. He appeared to be in an underground chamber. One side was blocked off by a wooden divider. Then he noticed a young girl, she appeared to be preteen, staring at him.

The young girl turned and called out. "Father, the man is awake."

Then he heard Abby's voice. "John's awake? I've got to see him."

A man's voice responded. "You shouldn't be on that leg this soon."

Abby's voice replied. "I don't care. I need to see John."

Again the man spoke. "If you insist. Hold on a moment." There was a pause. "If you have to get up then use these and stay off that leg."

The divider was shifted aside and an elderly man leaning on a cane limped in. Abby limped in right behind him, leaning on a pair of beat up old crutches.

"John, thank god you're OK. I was so worried about you." She looked genuinely relieved. "The doctor here was worried because you had lost so much blood." She indicated the elderly man.

John stared up at his Abigail, amazed that she was more concerned about his welfare than about the terrible things that had happened to her because of him. Then he stared at this old man that looked like a street beggar yet, according to her, was apparently the doctor that had performed surgery on him and saved his life. He saw a larger chamber beyond the opening where the wooden divider had been. There were two high narrow examination beds in it. On the other side of the larger chamber was an opening that was blocked on the other side by some type of tapestry. To the left was another opening into another chamber or tunnel.

He glanced again at the solid rock walls that surrounded him, yet from what he could see, this was apparently a reasonably well designed infirmary. His memories were a bit fuzzy and he wasn't sure how far gone he had been near the end, but he could swear that they had been attacked by a monster lion-man. None of it made sense.

John attempted to sit up but was thwarted by his own weakness and the pain in his side. He groaned as he fell back.

The older man placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't try to get up. You had some internal damage and you might pull those stitches. I would rather not have to go in and fix it again. You need to stay lying down for at least another day so that those internal stitches can properly heal."

"Where are we?" He asked, glancing at the rock walls beyond the strangely dressed man that Abby had called a doctor.

"We are in a safe place, John." Abby replied. "I've met some of those that live here and they are very nice people." Abby placed her hand over his hand. "You just rest now and we can talk later."

He spoke to Abigail. "I'm so sorry for dragging you into this Abby."

Abigail simply shushed him. "It's alright John. I don't blame you. You've gone out of your way to try to protect me, even when we ran into Vincent."

John looked at her quizzically. "Vincent?"

"The big lion-man. He's the one who brought us here." Abby replied.

_**Continued in Part 16**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	16. Convergence

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 16: Convergence**

**_Afternoon  
_**

John looked at Abby in disbelief. The lion-man was **real**? He had about convinced himself that he had been hallucinating. He glanced over at the old man who showed no surprise at Abby's statement.

The old man got a faraway look on his face at the same time that John became aware of a shift in the sound of the messages on the pipes. The old man got an exasperated look on his face. "Good lord, what now?" He asked the universe in frustration as he shook his head.

At that moment a pretty young woman came out from the tapestry covered opening on the other side of the larger chamber accompanied by. . . "**Scarecrow**?" He uttered in surprise. The creature and the messages were forgotten as he stared at Lee.

"Hello Paul, Nice to see you back among the living." Lee responded. He was being supported by the woman who was herself leaning on a beat-up old pair of crutches. "I don't suppose you know what has been going on."

The old man - (doctor?) - glared at Lee. "You shouldn't be out of bed this soon. You could easily displace one of those fractured ribs or that collar bone and puncture a lung. I'm not properly equipped to deal with that type of emergency here."

Lee carefully eased himself down into the old chair just inside John's (Paul's) smaller chamber that the child had been sitting in earlier. "I'm here now." He replied in a cavalier tone. For a moment they glared at each other, then the older man / doctor shrugged and turned his attention back to checking the stitches in John's (Paul's) side.

Lee glanced at Abby and the doctor then looked back at John (Paul). "Paul, what happened? All we know is that suddenly, out of the blue, we got computer inquiries on your John Abbot alias from two different sources. Billy sent us here to find out why the alias of an inactive agent was suddenly popping up all over the place. When we came here to investigate we learned about the shootout and your miraculous disappearance. Why were they after you?"

"I have no idea why they were after me. I can't think of any case or operation I've been involved in that could have led to such an excessive reaction." John (Paul) shook his head. "None of it makes any sense."

John (Paul) noticed that the old man/doctor had been looking back and forth between Lee and himself and appeared to be getting more and more upset as they had been talking.

At that point another very pretty woman entered the large chamber through the outer doorway, Paul recognized her as Catherine from his apartment building, followed by the very large and very dangerous looking lion-man. It was real and just as frightening as he remembered and the creature was carrying a body. Immediately behind them another tall dark haired man entered carrying another young woman with what looked like a bleeding wound to the leg.

The older man looked at them in dismay. "**More** intruders? Is **all** of 'Above' about to invade us?" It was obvious that the old man was not at all pleased with this new development.

Catherine spoke up. "I know I shouldn't have brought them 'Below', Father, but we had no choice." She shrugged. "They had both already seen Vincent and we were about to be overrun by some very bad men."

Then the new young woman that the man was carrying spotted Abigail. "**Mother! You're alive!**" The tall dark haired man came straight towards Abigail as the woman he carried continued speaking. "Oh, Mother, I was so worried about you." The new young woman looked so relieved to see Abby.

The young woman that was with Lee, looked at the new woman in frank curiosity. Lee was staring at the dark haired man that had been carrying the new young woman.

The old man turned to the monster, a resigned tone to his voice. "Put him over in there." He indicated the hanging tapestry.

As the creature turned towards the other small chamber he commented. "Be careful with this one, Father, he is dangerous. He was going to torture then kill Catherine and the other woman."

Remington settled Laura on the examination bed nearest the others.

John/Paul was thinking how strange it was to hear that creature, lion-man, or whatever he was refer to a normal man as 'dangerous'. A small gnome like man that John (Paul) had not noticed came out from behind the tapestry and held it aside. The monster placed the body on the examination/operation table and moved back out of the way, giving him a clear view of the injured man that now moved and groaned. The first thing John (Paul) noticed was the nasty looking gashes across the man's middle. He realized that the creature could have easily done the same thing to him, sending a shiver down his spine. Then he saw the injured man's face and was stunned. "Ronald!" He exclaimed as the tapestry dropped back into place.

"Who?" Remington, Lee, Laura, Amanda and Catherine all asked simultaneously.

"That's Ronald Anderson, code name Walrus." He answered, addressing Lee in particular. "He was part of the Alice network. He was one of the six agents killed in that warehouse explosion six years ago." He looked around at the gathering. "What happened?"

Catherine spoke up. "Before we get into that, I think it's about time we introduced ourselves. Once we all know who everyone **really** is we can try to sort this mess out." She pointed to John (Paul). "I know you as Peter Blair, Abigail knows you as John Abbot, and this man who claims to be a computer efficiency expert just called you Paul." She crossed her arms and stared at him expectantly.

John (Paul/Peter) glanced at the tapestry covered opening where the old man and the monster had taken Ronald. His gaze then shifted first to Lee then to Abigail and finally returned to Catherine. He shrugged. "My name is Paul Cartwright. I used to work for the government but I became a target so I let everyone think the last assassination attempt had succeeded and I retired." He turned to Abigail. "I'm sorry I lied to you. I thought my John Abbot alias was safe." He glanced again at tapestry covered opening. "I thought everyone that knew about that name had died in the warehouse explosion years ago."

Abigail took his hand. "Paul Cartwright." She seemed to think it over for a moment. "I like it. It suits you just as well as John did." She squeezed his hand. "I understand and using a different name doesn't change how I feel about you." She glanced pointedly at her daughter and the tall dark haired man beside her. "I have learned that it's not the name or the occupation that matters; it's the man inside that really counts. I knew you weren't who you claimed to be before those men showed up." She faced Catherine, never letting go of Paul's hand. "I think you already know who I am."

Catherine nodded. "You left your purse behind. We've already done a background check." She smiled at Abigail. "I'm afraid my meeting with your daughter this morning didn't quite go as planned." She turned to Lee and Amanda. "Now, what about our, so called, computer efficiency experts?"

Lee shrugged. "Lee Stetson. Amanda and I work for the same government agency that Paul used to work for." He glanced around at everyone. "We came here to investigate the sudden interest in an alias for a supposedly dead agent."

Amanda spoke up next. "Amanda King . . . ah, Stetson." She looked over at Lee. "I go with him."

Catherine grinned. She had already suspected that they were much more than just partners. Then she turned to Remington. "Now for our C.I.A. agent. I assume that you are Remington Steele?"

He nodded. "That is correct ma'am." He smiled charmingly at her. "And you already know my wife Laura Holt." He had his arm around her supporting her. "We came to New York because of a call from Abigail on the day of the shootout."

"As you all should already know, my name is Catherine Chandler. I'm the Assistant District Attorney. I also happen to own and live in the building where the shootout occurred. Now to see if we can untangle this knot we have all gotten tied into."

Catherine proceeded to relate what had happened to her and Laura with occasional comments or enhancements from Laura. They were able to give a fairly accurate description of the inside of the building they had been taken to. Everyone was impressed when Catherine described the way she and Laura had handled the interrogator.

Catherine added. "Also two of the men that grabbed us were involved in that attack on your apartment, Paul. I recognized them from the lobby camera video tapes." She paused. "And that brings us to you and our friend over there." She indicated the hanging tapestry behind which Father was taking care of the man Vincent had injured.

Paul spoke. "He was one of the agents in my team that were supposed to have been killed in that explosion six years ago. We were raiding a suspected spy ring headquarters. We thought that they were all wiped out in the explosion." He thought for a moment. "If he made it out alive, I wonder if any of the others did also."

Lee spoke up at this point. "We have been trying to track down a major spy ring that operates out of the U.N. for a couple of years." He looked over at Catherine. "It sounds like you may have actually stumbled into part of it." He indicated where the tapestry hid the man in question. "Our friend over there might just be able to lead us to the rest of them."

Paul added. "That is what my team was working on, a spy ring operating out of the U.N. We thought it had been destroyed when that warehouse blew up but it looks like we only put a dent into it."

The older man came out from behind the tapestry and approached the group. He did not look happy. In fact to Lee he looked like he was ready to chew nails. "Did I just hear that you are all government agents?" He ground out barely suppressing his anger.

Lee, Amanda and Paul raised their hands, all three managing to look a bit sheepish about it.

Remington held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. "I only pretended to be with the government. I'm strictly private."

The creature came out from behind the tapestry as the old man they had been calling Father threw up his hands in disgust. "Good lord help us, we're doomed. They'll move in and destroy us." Then he looked at the creature and shook his head. "I'm so sorry, Vincent. What's going to happen to you, dear boy, now that they know about us?" There was deep sorrow and regret in his voice now.

The creature placed his hand on the old man's shoulder. "Do not worry about me, Father, I can easily disappear into the miles of caverns below us. It is you and all the others I am concerned about."

Lee spoke up at this point. "No one else knows anything about you. All our agency knows is that Miss Chandler and the Steele detective agency are involved with this case."

"But they will as soon as you return." Father replied a bit sharply, his eyes blazing with both anger and regret.

Amanda looked at him in surprise. "You would let us go back after seeing this?" She waved at their surroundings. She looked from the man called Father to Vincent thinking that if they wanted to keep them down here, there was little they could do about it. Though she had met and talked to Abigail and some of the people that lived down here, she had still been unsure whether they would be allowed to leave.

The doctor shook his head and glared at her in injured defiance. "We could never do that to you. It goes against everything we stand for here." He drew himself up straight, his eyes flashing, and it looked like he was about to say more.

Catherine jumped in before Father could continue. "You must understand, even if the government didn't turn Vincent into some sort of science experiment, the government bureaucracy would move in with all their good intentions and destroy those people that live down here. Everything that they do for other dispossessed and lost souls would end."

Laura looked over at Remington. "I can at least promise you that your secret is safe with us. It wouldn't be the first time we've protected other people's secrets."

Amanda looked at Lee and, at a nod from him, spoke up. "I understand, Catherine. I've only been here a day but I've seen what they do for those people." She again glanced at Lee. "If there's one thing secret agents are good at, it's keeping secrets and you risked your security by helping both of us when it would have been in your best interests to leave us where we were. We could never betray you. We like what we see here and we owe you our lives."

Catherine asked. "What about your boss?"

"He doesn't expect to know all of my sources." Lee replied. "If he wants details, I tell him that I was helped by some street people that act as your informants."

Paul jumped in. "This place has become my only safe refuge. Your secret is my best protection." He glanced at Vincent uncertainly.

Abby took his hand and chimed in. "I'm with John . . . ah, Paul."

Father glanced over at Vincent who responded. "They are all quite sincere, Father. I believe they can be trusted to keep our secret."

Father relaxed slightly at Vincent's words then shrugged shaking his head. "Government agents loose in our tunnels." He grumbled, only partially mollified, "What next?" Then he turned his attention to Laura. "Well, as long as you're here, let's see what I can do about that wound." And he began to examine her injury.

Vincent entered the other small chamber and a few minutes later he and the gnome like man came out carrying a stretcher with the man he had disabled on it. Father looked up and spoke to him. "Take him to the empty storage chamber down the tunnel." Vincent and Pascal left the infirmary with the man. Father faced the rest. "It's about the only chamber we have down here with a lockable door." Then he turned back to helping Laura. A few minutes later Vincent returned and stood beside Catherine placing his arm around her.

Paul looked up eyes wide at her unconcerned attitude towards this monsters proximity. In fact she seemed to welcome his arm around her and leaned her head against his side affectionately. As he glanced at the others he saw that no one else was surprised by Catherine's reaction.

Paul shook off his surprise and addressed Lee. "If this spy ring is as big as you say and Ronald is an important part of it, then that would explain the massive hit squad they sent after me. I could identify him." He shook his head, his face grim. "It makes me wonder if any of the others were . . . are involved." He looked up at them. "If so, I could identify them as well."

Vincent entered into the conversation. "If we had pictures of those people we could circulate them among our helpers. If any of them are still alive and around, someone will spot them."

Lee jumped in. "That reminds me. About eight months ago we had a chance to break up the spy ring. I was to meet a defector who might have been able to give us a large part of the operation but he never showed up." He looked at Vincent. "That same night I saw you pull someone out of the water by the docks." He paused. "The defector was named Dimitri Benko." He saw Father look up startled at the mention of that name. He also saw a look of profound sorrow cross the faces of Father, Catherine and Vincent. He was surprised at how humanly expressive that un-human face could be.

Catherine was the one who responded. "That was Dimitri alright." She looked at Vincent then at Father. "He was very sick when Vincent pulled him out of the water and there were people in a boat looking for him with malicious intent. Vincent brought him down here to help him but he just got sicker and finally died. We discovered that he had come down with pneumonic plague. It swept through the whole community down here. We lost two good people to that plague before we got it under control. . ." Catherine seemed to choke up and there was a suspicious glimmer in her eyes as she swallowed once. Lee noticed Vincent tightening his arm around her just a bit, his own eyes showing a hint of pain and sorrow. Father also had a suspicious glimmer in his eyes.

Vincent finished for Catherine. "Dimitri died before Catherine could tell him that his girlfriend was married. He never knew about it."

Lee wondered who else had died to have had such a profound effect on those three. "That explains a lot. There were five other's on that ship with the same plague. Two of them came aboard in Africa. They were Russian field agents . . . assassins. They had just finished an assignment in Morocco."

Remington decided to take a hand. "If there is anything Laura and I or the Remington Steele Agency can do to help, we're at your service." He glanced over at Laura and winced as he saw Father working on her leg. "And I have a little personal score to settle with them as well."

Lee nodded. "I would welcome your help." He looked down at his strapped up ribs. "Especially as I seem to be, temporarily, out of action."

Remington moved his injured arm. "I'm not undamaged but I am totally functional. I can fill in for you where necessary." He grinned engagingly. "It won't be the first time I've become involved in government operations."

Father stepped up to Remington. "Let me check that out." He undid the makeshift bandages and examined the wounds. "Not too bad." He muttered as he put ointment and fresh bandages over the two holes. "It should heal on its own with no problem."

Catherine added. "Vincent and I will help where ever we can."

Amanda responded. "Can you get me to a fax machine?"

Remington added. "I could also use access to a phone. I need to let some people know that Abby is alive and well."

Catherine smiled at them. "I need to go back by the office and talk to Joe. Amanda, Remington, why don't you two come with me and you can use the equipment there. We shouldn't be gone more than a couple of hours." She looked up at Vincent. "Vincent, would you come along to help Amanda?"

Father approached and handed Amanda the old worn crutches she had left against the wall. "If you're going to be running around you'll need these, at least for a day or two." He turned and headed out of the chamber grumbling under his breath. "Now they're running spy operations out of my infirmary."

Lee looked up at Vincent and Catherine. "I promise you, both, we will protect the secret of this place, and if there is ever anything we can do for you, just let us know."

"We believe you." Vincent replied. "If there is anything we can do for you, just contact Catherine." He glanced down at her as she glanced up at him. "She will know how to contact us. Despite his grumbling, Father understands."

Catherine spoke up as she reluctantly disengaged herself from Vincent. "We had better get going if we want to get back to my office before it closes for the day."

Although he hated letting her go off on her own like this, Lee knew that Amanda was in good hands and he would only be a hindrance in his present condition. Amanda gave him a gentle hug and kissed him. "I'll be back soon, Honey"

"You take care, Love." Remington embraced and kissed Laura. "Anything I should tell Mildred or Frances?"

Laura shook her head. "Just let them know that Mother is OK."

Catherine, Vincent, Remington and Amanda left together. Although Amanda's ankle was feeling much better and she could get along fine with one crutch, Vincent carried her while Remington carried her crutch, so that they could move faster. Amanda had to admit that she really didn't mind being carried by Vincent, now that she was beginning to know him. She was even beginning to understand why Catherine was attracted to him.

After a short time they emerged from the Central Park access. Remington and Amanda were both fascinated by the secret door mechanism. They stopped ten feet from the outer opening and Vincent set Amanda on her feet. Vincent and Catherine kissed then he went back into the tunnel, closing the door behind him. Catherine, Amanda and Remington walked the short distance to the park road and Catherine flagged down a taxi.

The taxi driver looked a bit askance at Remington's torn bloody shirt and bandaged arm as he got in the cab. His eyes got wider when Catherine announced their destination. In a sort time they were back in the government building and riding the elevator up to the DA offices.

_**Continued in Part 17**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	17. More Investigation

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 17:** **More Investigation**

As they rode up the elevator Catherine turned to her companions. "I want you to understand, Joe knows nothing of Vincent or his world." She watched them as she continued. "And for now it is best if it remains that way. Joe is a good man and an honest district attorney, which this city needs very badly right now. Especially after Moreno and the government corruption scandal last month. Moreno's fall hit Joe pretty hard." She paused. "I just don't want to put him in the position of having to be a keeper of Vincent's secret when his job is already difficult enough because of these corruption trials."

Remington nodded as he remarked. "I read about that. The corruption reached pretty deep into the city government. I believe I read that you and Maxwell were both nearly killed in that little incident. Now your boss finds himself in the position of having to prosecute his mentor for his part in that." He paused. "I can see why you don't want to complicate your boss's situation. It's already tough enough. You can count on me."

Amanda nodded her assent. "I understand. What he doesn't know can't compromise his integrity. You don't want to put him on the spot with such a big secret."

Catherine smiled and nodded, as the elevator doors opened, then turned back around, sure that Vincent's world was safe for now. She led them through the bullpen to Joe's office where she knocked on his door and walked in.

Joe glanced up momentarily then he dropped his pen and his head jerked back up when what he saw had registered. "Cathy, what happened to you?" He jumped up and came around his desk. The shiner on her right eye was really developing by now. Almost as an afterthought he had noticed and recognized the two people accompanying her. "Who did this to you?"

"It's OK, Joe. I'm fine." She touched his shoulder in reassurance as she took a breath. "Joe you remember that shootout in my apartment building?" She paused as he nodded. "Well that case has snowballed into a massive spy ring case. We have spooks coming out of the woodwork on this one and I think we will probably have to bring the F.B.I. in on this before it is over." She paused to let all that sink in. "I was kidnapped along with the woman I was having lunch with by some of the same assassins that were involved in that thing at the apartment. They took us to a warehouse by the docks. They were going to kill us as soon as they got the information they wanted." She glanced at Remington. "Mr. Steele here rescued us."

"Mr. Steele?" Joe asked, looking at him suspiciously.

"Remington Steele, of Remington Steele Investigations." Remington reached out to shake a slightly stunned Joe's hand.

Catherine indicated Amanda. "This is Amanda King. **She's** the government agent."

"Pleased to meet you Mister Maxwell." Amanda acknowledged to a now fully stunned Joe.

Joe shook his head. "Now let me get this straight. The government agent turns out to be a private detective and the computer auditors turn out to be government agents?" He looked at Catherine. "You **are** Cathy Chandler, aren't you?"

Catherine laughed. "At this point I'm not sure of anything." She pointed to her companions. "Amanda's group has been trying to track down a massive spy ring operating out of the U.N. The man in my apartment building is an ex-agent, currently retired. The assassins were after him because, apparently, he can recognize some of the leaders of the ring. Remington Steele is involved because that woman, Abigail Holt, that was present at the shootout is his mother in law." Catherine paused to allow Joe to absorb the situation. "We came in here because I thought you might want to have the police raid the warehouse where they took us and so that Amanda can report back to her office." She then gave Joe the location of the warehouse.

Remington spoke up. "I instructed the cab driver to inform the police about that warehouse. They may already be there."

Joe got on the phone. A minute later he looked up at them and reported. "There was a report made on that location about two hours ago. A patrol cruiser was dispatched but they reported no activity at that location."

"The entrance to that place was pretty well concealed. If you don't know what to look for, you would swear that there was nothing but crates of merchandise in it." Catherine responded.

Joe returned to his phone conversation to make the arrangements for another more extensive raid while Catherine took Amanda and Remington into the information center.

Amanda called Billy first.

"Billy, things have just become very interesting here." . . .

"We may have just cracked a major part of that U.N. spy network." . . .

"That's right. It seems they were trying to kill Paul. That's what brought the DA's office into this." . . .

"Apparently he can identify some of the higher ups in the ring." . . .

"No, we don't need any backup right now but you may need to have a team on standby for when we track down the rest of their operations." . . .

"We already have the DA's office and the Remington Steele agency both backing us up in the investigation." . . .

"That's what I said. The Remington Steele Detective Agency is helping us on this." . . .

"They've already been very helpful. Mr. Steele tracked some of them to one of their centers." . . .

"We do need one thing from you." . . .

"We need you to fax us photos of the dead agents from the Alice network." . . .

"Because they may not be dead. We already know that Ronald Anderson is alive." . . .

"Lee and I both saw him and Paul identified him. That was our initial break. He was captured at the first location that Mister Steele tracked down." . . .

Amanda gave Billy the number of the fax machine then, after promising to keep him informed on any new developments, hung up. Next she called home to check on her mother and her boys, and to a small extent prove to herself that her mother really was still at home.

Remington first called Frances to tell her that Abigail was OK, and then he called Mildred to report in and to find out if she had any new information. He told her that if anything came up she could get in touch through Catherine Chandler or Joe Maxwell of the New York District Attorney's office.

Catherine went over to talk to Rita.

"Rita, I wanted you to see if you can dig into the adoption records for Dorothy West and Abigail Holt to see if you can find out where they were born."

"Adoption records were usually sealed and it might be very difficult to get that information." Rita reminded her.

"I know, Rita." Catherine replied, "Just do the best you can."

After about an hour they got the faxes with the pictures of the six agents. Catherine made several copies of them and gave one copy to Joe. By then the police raid on the warehouse had been organized and Catherine, Joe, Remington and Amanda headed out to join them. They arrived just moments after the SWAT team had moved in.

A few seconds later the squad leader reported to Joe. "Sir there is no one in there. The place is stuffed to the rafters with boxes of merchandise."

Catherine responded. "That is just a false front. I'll show you." She entered the warehouse and showed them where the door was located then stood back as they rushed into the operations center. After about ten minutes the squad leader came back to report that the building was secure and they had captured four individuals. Then he led them into the main room. It had been nearly cleaned out but there were still a few pieces of equipment left behind. Catherine identified one of the four spies captured as having been involved in the kidnapping.

An officer came in to report. "Sir, we found a witness. He stated that a large truck left here a half hour ago and it was fully loaded when it left."

"Damn, they moved fast." Catherine was amazed and frustrated. "If we had been any later there would have been nothing left." She looked around but there was very little that was useful left behind.

After the four prisoners were taken away, Catherine told Joe that she and her two companions were going to go pursue some other leads. Joe knew what that meant. She was probably going to disappear for a while then come back with some obscure lead or witness that no one else could find. He didn't know where she disappeared to or how she did it but she always got results so he generally didn't ask. He just told her to be careful, glanced at the condition of the other two, and quietly worried about her.

Catherine, Amanda and Remington took a cab to Catherine's apartment building. They stopped off at her apartment where she changed and picked up a few items that might be useful. While there Remington noticed Amanda surreptitiously retrieving three apparent bugs and stuffing them into her pocket. He grinned to himself but said nothing. From there they went to Remington's hotel where he grabbed a new shirt and a change of clothes for Laura. Remington watched Amanda out of the corner of his eye and noticed her removing something from the phone. He decided that Laura didn't need to know about that. Then they continued two blocks down to Lee and Amanda's hotel where she picked up a change of clothes for them as well. Finally they returned to the park where Catherine led them back Below to meet the others in the infirmary.

Lee observed, fascinated, as the children paraded through the Infirmary to accept the pictures that Amanda had brought back and received their instructions on who to deliver them to. The pictures were spread among the helpers and some of the tunnel folks, particularly some of the young teenagers, that spent time Above.

"Now we wait for a break." Catherine remarked.

"That is a pretty impressive network you have there." Lee commented. "Are you a fan of Sherlock Holmes stories?"

"I have often thought of calling them the Central Park Irregulars." Vincent remarked.

Lee gazed over at Vincent. In the last two days he had gotten used to the dichotomy between his barbaric appearance and his very intelligent and literate mind. "Where do all these children come from?" Until now he hadn't realized how many children there were down here.

Catherine answered. "Some of them were born down here. A few of them belong to our helpers." She smiled as a five year old girl that had been brought in for a minor scrape held up her arms to Vincent in an implied request to be picked up. "Most of them come from the streets. We take them in and help them get a fresh start in life. Many of those that live down here come from the same background and are very good at helping them deal with the emotional baggage of that life."

Laura watched Vincent pick up the child, whose name apparently was Naomi, and comfort her after the old man, everyone here called Father, had finished treating her minor injury. The picture of this frightening creature comforting that sweet little girl boggled her mind. It was difficult to reconcile the gentleness she was seeing here with the ferocity she had seen during the rescue this morning.

"What are we going to do about our friend Ronald?" Catherine asked. "They're not really equipped to deal with him down here. Their idea of security is a tapestry draped across the door."

Lee responded. "If we could somehow let him think that he escaped, we could follow him. If we're lucky he will lead us to the rest of them." He shrugged. "It's arranging the escape I'm a little fuzzy on."

Remington perked up. "What about if we have Vincent take you, Amanda and him up to the surface and tell you to go away. Then in your weakened state, you allow him to escape. Catherine could have him followed by some of those tunnel kids. All we have to do is stage his escape in a way that he will believe it."

"What about you, Lee." Amanda asked. "In your condition, he could really hurt you."

"We won't give him the chance." Lee replied.

Vincent jumped in. "If we take him out into the park after it's dark, I can keep watch nearby and make sure he doesn't do any harm."

"What about Ronald, what's his condition?" Laura asked, she still remembered what Vincent had done to him.

Father, who had been standing there watching the proceedings and frowning, spoke up. "Other than the damage to his chest and abdomen, which wasn't very serious and has been patched up, he is in reasonably good condition. He is conscious and mobile. He does however have a mild concussion and I gave him some strong pain medicine, so he is still a bit groggy and disoriented."

"Being groggy and disoriented will make him a lot easier to handle" Lee observed. He had already noticed how they tended to avoid talking about the damage Vincent had done. Father had winced slightly when he mentioned the damage. He had also noticed that Vincent himself was acutely uncomfortable about it. It was obvious to him that Vincent did not like what he had done to that man. It had also become obvious to him that Vincent was not by nature a violent person.

"We can easily get some of the older teenagers can help follow him. To them it's a fun game." Vincent added.

With Remington's deviously inventive input, the details of the operation were quickly worked out then it was dinner time and everyone headed to the communal dining chamber. Father followed, mumbling that now they were making him and Vincent part of their spy games. Abigail stayed in the infirmary with Paul. Vincent brought their dinners to them.

Remington asked where Vincent had come from and was told the story about how he had been found as a newborn infant hidden in the trash behind Saint Vincent Hospital. Beyond that no one really knew anything about his origins.

Amanda asked how Catherine became involved with these people. Catherine told the story about how she had been attacked and left for dead in the park where Vincent found her. This reminded Amanda of Francine's rather graphic description of the police picture taken of Catherine's face when she was found. Thinking about it caused Amanda to shiver in horror at what she must have gone through.

Catherine asked Amanda how a divorced suburban PTA mother of two boys became a secret agent. Amanda told them about how she and Lee first met. Laura commented that it was the best pickup routine she had ever heard of. Amanda responded that she thought Vincent's approach was more interesting. Save the girls life then keep her blind for ten days 'til she is hooked on you.

Over dinner they all got to know each other much better. The similarity between Laura's mother and Amanda's mother was also brought up and Catherine told them that she was looking into that and would let them know what she found out.

After dinner five of the tunnel teenagers were drafted for tailing duty. As soon as it was dark, Vincent, Catherine, Lee and Amanda went to fetch their quarry. One look at Vincent was more than enough to keep him sufficiently cowed. Lee and Vincent engaged in a conversation that was intended to make it clear that they had been told to get out of his home and that, once they reached the surface, Lee would be on his own. All the while Vincent was leading them along a roundabout route to a park access that was never used any more.

At the doorway Vincent sent them on their way then closed the access on them. He waited until they were out of sight then he took off following them from the shadows. Lee was wearing the torn shirt from the day before, that showed the bandages around his chest and was leaning heavily on one of the beat-up old crutches he had borrowed from Father. Amanda was using the other crutch and exaggerating her limp. After they had gone on for a while Lee began slowing down. He pulled out his gun and told them to slow down. They had gone about another fifty feet when Lee cried out and collapsed. His gun came loose and skittered across the path, his crutch clattered to the ground about five feet from him. Amanda was instantly down next to Lee, trying to help him as he struggled to get up. Catherine was left standing there alone holding Ronald's arm.

The tableau held for about a second and a half. Then Ronald swung on Catherine. She brought her arm up to block the blow but allowed the force of it to push her off balance. She stumbled backwards but didn't go down. Ronald dived for the gun and came up fumbling with it. Then he had it under control, pointed it at Catherine, and pulled the trigger.

Catherine flinched and the quiet click sound of the unloaded gun took him by surprise.

Lee looked up at him smugly. "That doctor down there took away all the bullets. They apparently don't allow loaded guns in their tunnels." He started to get up, grabbed his ribs, groaned and sat back down.

Ronald stared at them uncertainly. Amanda stood up and she and Catherine started towards him. Amanda was limping but he knew from past reports that Catherine was no pushover and she looked angry. Also he was far from top condition right now. He held the gun like a club and backed up. Amanda cried out and Catherine stopped and reached out to her. He decided to take advantage of the break in his luck and turned to run away while he could.

Unseen off to the left, three teenagers moved through the shadows keeping track of him. To the right and well ahead two more teenagers were hiding in the trees watching him approach. Behind him, after he was out of sight, Lee stood up as Vincent approached. Lee, Amanda and Catherine all broke into laughter as the four congratulated themselves on a well executed con. Remington's plan had worked flawlessly. Catherine had given Lee back his gun, minus the bullets, Lee had been telling the truth about loaded guns not being allowed Below. When the scam had been planned, Lee had removed the firing pin and the recoil spring. That gun was totally useless and if Ronald tried to get it fixed the agency would be notified because of its unique serial number.

Lee was almost gleeful. "That was fun. Did you see the look on his face when the gun didn't go off? That was priceless." He smiled at Catherine. "Your acting when he pointed that gun at you was perfect."

"My dad drummed it into me that there was no such thing as an unloaded gun when I was little." Catherine replied. "There was very little acting involved."

Vincent headed below while Catherine got a cab and took Lee and Amanda back to their hotel. Vincent led Remington and Laura back to Catherine's apartment building where they were able to get a cab back to their hotel. It had been decided that they would all meet at the DA's office in the morning.

~ x x x x x ~

_**Continued in Part 18**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	18. Revelations

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 18: Revelations**

**_Morning (Day 5)_**

Just moments after she awoke in the morning Catherine heard Vincent tapping on her balcony door. She eagerly went over to open the door then threw her arms around him and drew him reluctantly into the apartment. Vincent was acutely aware that he was now in her bedroom and she was barely covered in a very sheer robe covering an equally sheer negligee. He could feel her warmth pressed against him. This was a little more intimacy than he was prepared to deal with. Finally she took pity on him, picked up a cotton bathrobe and put it on. Although she did take her time, allowing him to get an eyeful.

Regaining his composure with difficulty Vincent passed on the information he had come to give her. "We got some information about our friend. He took a cab to an apartment in Brooklyn." He told her.

"Dana's cab?" Catherine asked.

"Yes." Vincent answered with a smile. "Having a helper that's a cab driver does come in handy occasionally. The kids are keeping an eye on the place. They'll let us know if anything happens."

Catherine was again in his arms. She claimed a kiss then smiled ruefully. "I guess it was too much to hope he would lead us to their headquarters." She released him. "I have to get ready for work. I'll come back down Below this afternoon. Maybe there will be some helpful developments by then."

Vincent retreated from her bedroom and she began dressing for work. By the time she arrived Lee, Amanda, Remington and Laura were already there waiting for her.

"Radcliffe, come here a second." Joe called from his open office door.

Catherine altered direction and headed into Joe's office. He had called her Radcliffe so she knew he wasn't mad at her. "Here I am Joe. What's up?"

Joe looked up at her. "I was about to ask you the same thing." He nodded towards the group congregating at her desk.

"It's that spy case. They've joined forces to pool information and flush out that major spy ring operating out of the U.N. I've been included because I have a few resources that they don't. We're going to see if Rita has dug up anything useful then we are going to check out some of my contacts. I will try to keep you up to date."

"OK Radcliffe, but you be careful." He tilted his head toward her guests. "Judging by their appearance, and yours, it looks like you're after a very nasty bunch. I've seen the report about what happened in front of that deli yesterday, and I really don't want to lose my best investigator . . . and my friend."

"Don't worry about me. I'm just an information source. I'll be fine." She smiled reassuringly at him, though the effect was slightly flawed by the shiner she was currently sporting.

"Just, please, stay out of trouble, Cathy." Joe scowled at her and waved her out of his office. He frowned as he watched her walk toward the other four then he looked up at the ceiling. "Please take care of her." He pleaded with the universe under his breath. He had known her for over two years and, based on her penchant for understatement, he was sure that she was currently up to her eyebrows in some serious guano. The apparent condition of those other four, combined with her own black eye, and the two rather violent incidents that he knew about so far, did not leave him feeling very encouraged. If he thought she would stand for it he'd restrict her to her desk and surround her with a ring of police. Fat chance of that ever happening. Well at least he could make damn sure that he was available if she needed him.

The first thing Catherine did was lead them into the data center to see what Rita had uncovered.

"As far as those six ID's you gave me, there's nothing on any of them. Sorry." Rita shrugged. It wasn't often that she came up empty like this. Then she brightened. "On those two women, however, I scored big." She picked up a small stack of papers from one of her trays. "Abigail Holt, married/divorced, and Dorothy West married/widowed, were both adopted from the same orphanage within a few days of each other. Now It took some real wrangling but I did get their records. They are identical twin sisters. Their mother is listed as a Jane Doe that died in childbirth. Father unknown. I have copies of the birth certificates and the adoption papers for both of them." She looked up into four surprised faces and a slightly amused Catherine.

Catherine turned to face them. "That pretty much settles it. You two are cousins."

Rita looked at Catherine in surprise then at the other four in open curiosity.

Laura and Amanda looked at each other in stunned surprise. Although this news was already suspected it was different to have it unequivocally confirmed and documented like this. Meanwhile Remington and Lee were also looking at each other in bemusement. After the initial shock wore off the two women were hugging each other. The two men ended up shaking hands. Rita was smiling with a suspicious glimmer in her eyes.

After the emotional storm had run its course, they all headed out of the building. This time Catherine lead them into the building across the street and down to its basement. She then led them to a door on the far wall of the basement and, producing a key, unlocked the door. She looked back at them. "This time of day it will be quicker than fighting the traffic. I often go home this way to avoid the five o'clock jams." Through the door there was a dark narrow stairway leading down. Catherine locked the door behind them then led them down the stairs and into a narrow tunnel lined with dozens of pipes. She lead them through the utility tunnel and to a doorway into the older brickwork tunnels that led under the park.

Vincent met them in the community dining chamber. Abigail and Paul were there also. Amanda greeted her as Aunt Abigail. At her quizzical look Catherine explained what Rita had dug up about her and Dorothy.

"So Vincent," Catherine asked after the excitement had died down, "Have you got any new developments for me?"

"One of our helpers spotted one of your dead spies early this morning. Some of the children followed him to a building on East 45th street between Grand Central Station and the U.N. building. Some of the older children are keeping watch on that building. They will let us know if there are any further developments."

Vincent and Catherine both became suddenly attentive like they were trying to hear something that the others couldn't.

Noticing the curious stares of the others Catherine explained. "The pipes. A second person from your group was spotted entering that same building. One of the kids is on his way here to tell us which two they were."

Lee nodded. "That's a pretty effective communications system."

"It serves us well, though it's not very private." Vincent responded.

"It's private from outsiders like us." Remington added.

William had begun setting out the food for lunch and they were all invited to eat. Just a few minutes later Geoffrey showed up with one of the Xerox copies of the six pictures. Two of the pictures were circled as the two men that had been spotted.

"That's Jimmy Porter and Terrance Neumann." Paul announced. "They were always pretty tight with Ronald." He looked grim. "And if those three are involved then it's a good bet that Andrew Nickles is also involved." He pointed to a third picture as he told them this. Then he banged his fist on the table, startling everyone there. "If Hatter, Carpenter, Walrus and Rabbit were all dirty then the entire Alice Network was compromised from the beginning. No wonder so many of our operations fell apart." He shook his head. "That means that Tin Man of the OZ network was also probably dirty as well."

"Tin Man was a traitor." Lee spoke up. "But he was dealt with a few years ago." Lee shook himself. "That sure explains the all-out effort to take you out. You could have blown their entire operation if you spotted any of them." He glanced over at Remington. "I think that building deserves a visit tonight."

Remington stared back. "I agree."

Catherine spoke up. "The buildings in that area are multi-story office buildings." She addressed Geoffrey. "Do you know which floor they went to?"

Geoffrey nodded his head. "They both went to the third floor."

The rest of the meal was spent making plans for that evening's exercise. After lunch was over Amanda, Remington and Catherine returned to the DA office. A quick check revealed that there was only one office listed on the third floor of the building on East 45th. Catherine asked Rita to get the phone records for the safe house Ronald was in and for the third floor office in the building on East 45th.

A little later Rita reported that there were only two calls on the safe house line in the last month. An outgoing call to an office in the UN building and an incoming call from a phone booth at 49th and Madison. She also reported that there were no phones listed for the third floor of the building on East 45th. In fact there were no listings anywhere for that floor. The building directory listed that office space as belonging to a company called U&N Associates. There was no information available on that company name.

Catherine got a copy of the plans for the building in question. They went over them carefully to get the layout to the third floor offices and to look for an alternate way in. They also checked to see if there was access to the tunnels; there wasn't. It was finally decided that the west fire escape was their best bet if they could arrange a distraction at the elevator.

Catherine talked to one of the preteens named Geoffrey. He said he would arrange a distraction at the elevator for them. Amanda and Remington both noticed a particularly mischievous look on that young boy's face as he left and Catherine was chuckling to herself.

"What was that about?" Amanda asked.

Catherine was exhibiting signs of mischief in her eyes as she answered. "I have no idea, but knowing Geoffrey, it will be inventive."

Vincent laughed. "Geoffrey is the only one I know that can out do Devin in the pranks department. Those people in that building won't know what hit them." He shook his head. "Whatever you do, stay clear of the elevator while you're in that building tonight."

_**Continued in Part 19**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	19. Invasion and Evasion

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part ** **19: Invasion and Evasion**

Catherine, Remington and Amanda were at the bottom of the stairwell counting down the seconds. Amanda's sprained ankle was well enough that she could walk on it now so she had been included. The elevator and the second stairwell were at the opposite end of the building and they were not in line-of-sight to each other. Geoffrey had assured them that the diversion would draw everyone to the elevators and adjacent stairwell for at least a half hour.

Remington looked at his watch. "It's time." They headed up the stairs.

At the third floor landing they stopped and Remington eased the door open. They could all hear a loud ruckus that combined off key singing, boisterous laughter, and something that sounded suspiciously like a party favor noise maker. Unable to resist, Remington peered around a corner and saw what looked like a teenager party that had spilled into the hallway around the elevator and several exasperated adults trying vainly to contain the noisy teens. There seemed to be an argument going on about what the address was. Then, the next second, there was silly string flying everywhere.

Chuckling he returned and they quietly checked out the first of three large offices that seemed to occupy this entire floor. This office turned out to be a storage room. Everything was covered with a thick layer of dust.

The second office was actually four offices with the walls between them removed. One end of the second office held banks of tape recorders, several video displays, and phone lines. The rest of the office was broken into seven four-man cubicles. Each desk was clean except for a phone, a computer terminal, and a cassette recorder. They took down the numbers of the phones on each desk. At one desk, Remington found a list of addresses and phone numbers taped to the bottom of a desk drawer. After that, several more lists and notes were found in similar hiding places. The volume of the noisy activity at the elevators easily covered the use of the Xerox machine to copy various lists and notes that they found in that office.

The third office turned out to be a conference room. On a white board were five names Paul Cartwright and John Abbot with the address of his apartment along with a list of a few other locations. Next was Catherine Chandler with the location of her apartment, her work and most of her favorite hangouts including the deli where they had grabbed her and Laura. Her work and home phone numbers were also listed. Next was Lee Stetson. They only had the name of the hotel Lee and Amanda were staying at with no room number. Last on the list was Laura Holt. Beside Laura's name was the name of her detective agency and the word 'relationship' followed by a large question mark. They were looking for her, Laura and Paul with a vengeance.

A sudden increase in the volume of noise drew their attention. A quick peek at the elevators caused Catherine to come back snickering.

Remington asked. "What now?"

"The police have arrived." Catherine replied with a grin. "To be more precise, Officer Johnson just got here." There was a look of pure devilment in Catherine's eyes as she spoke. Then her face took on a more serious look. "It's time to wrap this up and get out of here."

They put everything back the way they found it and headed out the back way and down the stairs. Once they were back in the tunnels Remington asked Catherine why she was laughing back there.

"You have never seen Officer Johnson in action." She replied. "He has a very unique talent. He can take the simplest task and complicate it to a point beyond absurdity. I once watched him take an ordinary traffic stop and turn it into an hour long ordeal for the driver without ever doing anything wrong or unreasonable. He is a master at it. I've used him more than once to delay someone that I wanted slowed down. The thing is, if you are watching him operate from the sidelines, he is hysterical."

Vincent was in the tunnel waiting. "Did you use Johnson again?" He asked. "That was cruel." He frowned then chuckled. "It's not often I feel sorry for the bad guys."

As they walked back toward the home tunnels Catherine began mulling over what she had seen in that conference room and her mood turned serious. Just as Vincent was about to ask her what was wrong she spoke up. "Vincent, I think I may need to stay Below tonight." Vincent was instantly alert to her words as well as her _unease_. "They have my phone numbers and hangouts listed on a large board up there. They also have Laura's name listed but no details."

"Of course. Father will have one of the guest chambers prepared for you." Vincent turned to the other two. "You are also welcome to stay Below as well. They may not know about you yet, but there is no point in taking unnecessary chances."

Once they reached the others in the dining chamber, the situation was discussed and it was decided that they would all stay below for the night. Tomorrow they would analyze the material they had gathered and plan their next move. Vincent escorted the others to the chambers that had been assigned to them. Last he took Catherine to the chamber that had been assigned to her.

As Vincent turned to leave Catherine stopped him. "Please, Vincent, don't leave just yet." She begged. "I don't want to be alone." She looked down then back up at him. "I guess seeing my life spelled out on that board un-nerved me more than I realized."

Vincent gazed at her for a second. He could feel her need of his company as well as see it in her face. "I will stay a while if you wish." He replied.

They sat down on the bed together. Leaning back against the wall, he put his arm around her. For a while they talked then they just sat there with her head against his shoulder and he read to her until she dozed off. He was unwilling to disturb her right away so he decided to remain for just a little longer reading to himself.

~ o ~

As Amanda and Lee were laying together they found the soft glow of candle light sparkling off the mineral laden walls and the deep silence, broken only occasionally by pipe messages or the distant rumble of a subway, to be very romantic. They ended up in each other's arms as their amorous desires took over. Though Lee's injuries forced them to be a lot less energetic than was normal for them, the afterglow seemed particularly sweet as they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

Remington and Laura also found the quiet candle lit chamber to be conducive to romance with the same end results.

Paul and Abigail likewise spent a romantic night in the chamber they had been given.

~ x x x x x ~

**_Saturday Morning (Day 6)_**

Vincent awoke in unfamiliar surroundings in a half reclined position. Then he looked down into familiar green eyes smiling up at him. "Good morning, Vincent." There was a _soft contented_ feel to her emotions with a hint of _humor_. "I think we may have stayed out past curfew."

With a hint of embarrassed bluster Vincent disentangled himself and clambered out of the bed. "I had better get back to my chamber." He backed towards the doorway. Whipping around to make a hasty exit, he collided with Father. For a second the tableau held. Vincent was looking back and forth between Father and Catherine, his embarrassment rising up to overwhelm him as he sputtered incoherently. Father stood there looking back and forth between Vincent and Catherine, _shock_, _surprise_ and _amusement_ fighting it out for supremacy in his stunned mind. Catherine stared at them both standing in the doorway as she found amusement bubbling up inside her.

Catherine was the first to speak. "Uh oh. We've been caught, Vincent." Then she began to laugh as both men blushed furiously. Then she took pity on them both. "We were just talking and we must have fallen asleep." Then her laughter overwhelmed her. Soon Father began to chuckle and Vincent relaxed.

She got up and grabbed Vincent's hand. "Considering we just spent the night together, don't you think you at least owe me a good morning kiss?"

Father blushed and looked at the floor. "Well, I . . . ah. . . I'll see you at breakfast." Then he headed up the tunnel.

Catherine stood there gazing up at Vincent until he surrendered to the inevitable and kissed her. Then with his hand firmly gripped in hers they headed to the dining chamber.

~ o ~

Amanda awoke feeling thoroughly content in her husband's arms. The secrecy that surrounded their marriage made this a rare enough occurrence and the romantic surroundings, combined with last night's loving, made it particularly wonderful. As she shifted Lee woke up.

He smiled as he stretched, then grimaced as he felt a twinge in both his ribs and his collar bone. "Good morning Mrs. Stetson." He kissed her thoroughly. "I think I'm really beginning to like this place."

She smiled back. "It certainly has its charms." She snuggled deeper into his arms.

They spent several minutes enjoying lying in each other's embrace. Finally they got up and began preparing for the new day.

Lee stopped as they were about to leave the chamber. "Amanda, I just realized, we need to find a way to retrieve those bugs from Catherine's apartment before she finds them. It would be a shame to destroy the rapport we've established here." He raised his eyebrows in a rather suggestive manor. "We may want to visit here again someday." Amanda silently pulled the four bugs out of her pocket and handed them to him, causing him to chuckle. "I should have known."

Together hand in hand they headed for the dining chamber.

~ o ~

Remington awoke with the comforting weight of Laura's head on his chest. Last night had been especially sweet for both of them. This was truly a magical place that Vincent had down here. He would definitely miss it when this case was over and they returned to L.A. Laura stirred and awoke.

"Good morning Princess." Remington greeted her.

She smiled and stretched. "I feel like a fairytale princess down here." She responded.

"This place certainly has a fairytale feel to it." He tightened his hold on her and kissed her. "Do you think they will let us come back some day?"

Laura sighed happily. "I would definitely like to come back here some day. Maybe for a second . . ." She stopped and seemed to be counting in her head. "Forth honeymoon."

Remington laughed as they finally got up, dressed and headed, hand in hand, to the dining chamber.

~ o ~

Soon they were all back in the dining chamber and it was obvious to each that the others had enjoyed a good night. There were a lot of secretive smiles exchanged. Lee and Remington kept grinning at each other. Event Vincent found himself included in the typical male ritual. They apparently assumed that his night had been much like theirs. The three girls were involved in their own version of this ritual which included the occasional fit of giggles.

Abigail came into the Dining chamber sporting a 'cat-that-ate-the-canary' grin, loaded up two plates and, after a curt nod to the rest, left. Laura stared at her mother's retreating back, her mouth hanging open. Remington, Laura, Amanda and Lee all glanced at each other in surprise, then Remington, his eyes dancing with amusement commented. "I guess your mother had a good night last night also."

Lee chuckled. "It looks like there's going to be more than one connection between you guys and our agency."

During the rest of breakfast they put together all the names, addresses and phone numbers gleaned from the information they had obtained in their midnight raid. They soon had a list of the locations that they needed to raid and a list of the people known to be involved in the spy ring. Catherine, Remington and Amanda decided they would go to the DA's office where they could make arrangements for a coordinated assault on the spy ring on Monday. As soon as breakfast was over they headed up to the surface. She took them out through one of the park exits and they caught a taxi.

The taxi pulled up across the street from Catherine's office building and as they started to get out, three men jumped out of a dark car across the street. All three men were brandishing Uzis. Catherine yelled, "**Guns!**" as she pulled Amanda towards the nearest building. Remington was right behind them as they ducked through the doors just ahead of a spray of bullets.

Catherine led them through the building and out the far side. Behind them inside the building could be heard screams and more gunshots. Someone or something bumped Catherine from behind. She jerked and took a couple of awkward steps before regaining her stride. Without even a backwards glance to see who had bumped her Catherine turned to the left and ran.

They heard the screeching of tires and, glancing back, saw the dark car come careening around the corner behind them. Catherine led them to the left down an alley between two buildings. They ducked into an open doorway on the right as more gunfire was heard. They were in some type of kitchen and Catherine led them through into an elegant restaurant that was currently empty. She led them out a fire door to the left setting off the alarm. Several bullets were heard hitting the door as it closed. Remington shoved several trash containers in front of the door then sprinted up the new alley after the girls. Catherine led them across the street through heavy traffic. Two cars came screeching around the corners at opposite ends of the block. She led them into another building, again followed by the clatter of automatic gunfire.

"Who are these madmen?" Remington complained as they ran.

Amanda was getting worried. Those assassins were too close and there were too many of them. Her ankle was still sore and she didn't know how much longer she could keep running. At least Catherine seemed to know where she was heading. Amanda and Remington both prayed Catherine could get them out of this in one piece.

Catherine turned left in the middle of the building and led them out another door onto the same street they had started on. As they were halfway across the street, Catherine suddenly cursed and veered right down the middle of the street. Remington heard screams and looked back to see a man waving an Uzi running up the opposite sidewalk towards them. As they ran into the intersection accompanied by the screech of tires and curses from swerving cars, Catherine glanced around getting her bearings and gauging the location of the gunman then veered right towards the corner away from the gunman as he came up on their left..

Far in the distance Catherine could hear the wail of police sirens but it was the screams and gunfire behind them that she was more concerned with. If she didn't keep them running, they would be dead by the time the police got here. She could also tell that Amanda was developing a very slight limp. She turned right at the corner and headed towards the doors of the adjacent building. Remington noticed that Amanda was lagging and grabbing her arm pulled her into the building just as a spray of bullets hit the door they had just passed through. Catherine continued to lead them through the building and out the other side. Turning to the left she led them to the intersection.

She looked around the corner of the building to the left and saw two of the assassins at the far corner of the building. She took the chance and had them sprint across the street and straight on down the sidewalk. Again there was gunfire as they passed behind the building. She cut left into this new building then right near the Central elevators. As they exited the building she turned left leading them to the intersection.

As they crossed the street Remington realized that Amanda was beginning to limp noticeably so he grabbed her arm and helped support her. Then he looked up and realized that they were heading back towards the government building with the D.A.'s office. He was surprised when Catherine turned left down another alley rather than continuing towards the Government building. As they ducked down the alley, gunfire again erupted behind them. Amanda let out a small groan as Catherine then turned right and into the back of the next building. Remington caught a glimpse of two armed men coming in from behind and another coming from the other end of the alley, then they were through the doorway. The gunmen were getting closer, they were all getting winded and Amanda's limp was getting worse.

Catherine headed straight to the stairwell by the elevators and down to the basement. Remington and Amanda both realized that this was the same underground access they had used yesterday. As she pulled open the door to the narrow stairway into the utility tunnel, the main stairwell door, on the other side of the basement, banged open and a man shouted out. "There they are."

Catherine locked the door behind them then led them down to the utility tunnel. As they ran down the narrow tunnel they heard several shots fired behind them and finally the sound of a door banging open. Catherine went left at a tunnel intersection then right at the next branch.

Amanda cried out as her ankle gave way causing her to stumble. They stopped and as they caught their breaths a new sound was heard. There was a terrifying roaring sound followed by gunfire and men screaming. This went on for a couple of minutes then there was silence.

A few minutes after that Vincent came around the corner. There were blood spatters across the front of his shirt and a fire in his eyes. Catherine practically launched herself into his embrace and as they stood there the fire died and his eyes took on a look of deep sorrow. Catherine could be heard talking in soothing tones. "It's OK Vincent. I couldn't get enough of a lead on them and they followed us down. I'm so sorry you had to do what you did." She tightened her grip around him.

Amanda and Remington both realized that the sorrow in Vincent's eyes was because of what he had done to save them. There was no glory in the kill for him. Amanda then noticed a bloody tear along the side of Catherine's shirt just below Vincent's arm. "Catherine you're hit."

A quick check revealed that she had been grazed near the bottom of her ribs. Now that the adrenalin was wearing off, it was beginning to hurt but it wasn't a serious wound.

Remington finally approached and placed his hand on Vincent's shoulder. "You saved our lives, Vincent. Thank-you." Then he looked over at Amanda where she was leaning heavily against the stone wall. "I think Amanda is going to need your help getting back to the home tunnels."

Remington whipped out a handkerchief and handed it to Catherine who used it to form a makeshift bandage. After that had been taken care of Vincent swept Amanda up into his arms and the four of them headed off toward the home tunnels. The thing about the current situation that amazed Vincent was that these two virtual strangers had a very good idea what he had just done to the three invaders yet there was not even a hint of fear, disgust or condemnation in either of their emotional states.

Amanda suddenly developed a flash of _disgust_ and _dismay_. "Oh my, I got blood on my shirt." Then the _dismay_ got slightly stronger as she glanced up into Vincent's face. "Vincent, I'm so sorry. Here I'm fussing about a few smudges and reminded you of what happened back there." She studied his face a moment. "We all know that you only did what you had to do to protect us and I want you to know that I appreciate it."

After they got back to the Central section, Father wrapped Amanda's ankle, telling her she needed to take it easy and quit getting herself chased by gunmen. He checked over Catherine and shook his head as he tisked at her. Catherine had a cracked rib as well as a nasty gash in her side. Father stitched up the wound and told her to be careful and give that rib time to heal.

They then went to Father's library to meet the others and discussed the morning's events. After that they all went to the dining chamber for lunch and to plan what to do next.

_**Continued in Part 20**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	20. Preparations

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

_**Note: **(For those that have already read this story.) There has been no significant change in the plot. All I have done is add some character interaction details. This resulted in the addition of this new chapter and several additions in the two subsequent chapters.  
_

* * *

**Part ****20: Preparations**

**_Saturday Afternoon_**

Joe had arrived shortly after the police had shown up and stayed at their command post until the action was over. Then he raced up to his office and called Cathy's apartment. After getting no answer he called Cathy's best friend Jenny. All Jenny could tell him was that she had no idea where Cathy was but she believed that she was safe for now.

Joe then called the police to get an update on the situation downstairs. After that he sat back at his desk and worried. He knew Cathy could take care of herself, and he had long suspected that she had someone that watched over her, like a kind of guardian angel, but she had never come up against anything like this before except possibly Gabriel's organization. And that had very nearly resulted in her death . . . twice.

About an hour later, his phone rang and he pounced on it hoping it would be Cathy. It was the police reporting on the final results of this morning's actions. He was relieved to learn that Cathy had not turned up among the injured. Then he hung up, swore to himself that Cathy was going to drive him to drink yet, and went back to his worrying.

~ o ~

Catherine and her four new friends went Above to the small shop of a helper that the enemy could not possibly know about. Catherine tried to get Joe at home but there was no answer then she called the D.A. office on the off chance that Joe might be there on a Saturday. Sure enough Joe was there.

"Cathy where are you? Were you involved in that little shootout we had downstairs this morning?"

I'm afraid so, Joe." She admitted, reluctantly; he would find out soon enough anyway. "Several of the assassins were waiting for me in front of the building this morning and started shooting as soon as I got out of the cab."

Joe became extremely agitated and cut loose with quite a few colorful phrases about her foolish penchant for trouble. Though not as long or as colorful as the time he had learned of Moreno's duplicity, it was still very impressive.

Finally his venting had run its course. "Cathy, where are you? Are you OK?"

"I'm OK, Joe . . . Ah, one of them grazed me," she admitted, "but it was only a minor scratch. Just barely enough to make for a good story later." She paused a moment. When she spoke again Joe could hear a slight tremor in her voice. "Joe, they were using Uzis. Was anybody else hurt?"

Joe paused a moment. He didn't want to add to her problems but she wouldn't appreciate it if he withheld anything from her. "There were over a dozen injuries among the bystanders, some of them pretty serious, but so far no fatalities have been reported."

"Oh, Joe that's terrible. I should never have tried to go there this morning." She gulped, the tremor in her voice more pronounced now. "I knew they were after me, I . . . I just didn't think . . ."

Joe interrupted. "Listen, I don't want you shouldering any responsibility for this mess. It was the fault of those monsters with the guns, not you. Do you hear me?" Joe demanded of her sternly. After a long silence he continued. "Do you hear me, Cathy. I mean it. This was **not** your responsibility." He insisted.

After another moment she replied. "OK, Joe. But it still bothers me." She paused again. "Joe, what happened after we escaped?"

"The police arrived just moments after you apparently disappeared. They cordoned off the whole area for a three block radius. Four of the assassins were killed in shootouts with the police. One was captured alive but unconscious. The police believe there were three others that have escaped." Joe paused again. "Cathy, there are at least three of those guys still out there looking for you. I beg you, please, stay out of sight 'til this thing is cleared up. We have no idea where those other three assassins are now. These people are deadly serious and I don't want you hurt."

"Don't worry, Joe. I definitely intend to stay out of sight, 'cause there are a lot more than just three of them out there looking for me. Right now I need your help to get the necessary warrants by Monday so we can take these #$%&*!#^%s out, once and for all." She responded with emphasis. All four of her companions stared at her in surprise at her colorful language.

After taking a moment to recover from Catherine's rather colorful remark, Joe responded. "OK, Cathy I'll take care of everything for you. What do you need?"

Catherine replied. "I'll call you back shortly with a list, but first I need to make a few other phone calls to make sure I have all my ducks in a row. This is going to be huge. There are over a dozen office buildings and dozens of individuals that all have to be taken at about the same time. I also have to contact the F.B.I. since this is their territory and Amanda needs to bring her agency in on it as well. I'll call you back with that list as soon as I can."

Joe nodded as he responded. "OK, Radcliffe, I'll be waiting. This is your show, but I expect you to let me in on it when the fun begins."

"You got it Joe . . . and thanks."

As soon as he got off the phone Joe got in touch with a judge he knew and asked him to stand by for a list of names and locations that he needed warrants for by tomorrow. He emphasized that this was both critical and a matter of national security. Then he called Rita and got her to come in to help him dig out the information they would need for the warrants. All the while he was alternating between praising Catherine for accomplishing the impossible, cursing her for always getting herself into so much danger and thanking God, and whoever it was that watched over her, that she was still alive.

Catherine next called James, an agent of the F.B.I. and a relatively new friend.

"Hello James. It's Catherine Chandler. Look I have a situation here in New York that the F.B.I would be very interested in and I need your help." She then gave him a quick rundown about the situation including their current lack of a safe location to run an operation from.

James thought for a minute then responded. "Cathy I know of an old safe house in the Bronx that we rarely use anymore." He told her where it was located and how to access the place. "You can use that as a base of operations for yourself and your friends."

"What about the F.B.I.? Surly they will want to be part of this . . . I hope."

He responded. "I'll contact the local F.B.I. office and arrange to have a task force of agents at the ready by tomorrow morning, and I'll have the person in charge meet you at the safe house tomorrow."

"Thanks, James. I really appreciate all your help."

Next she called Henderson of the New York Police Department. He had been a friend of her father since that time three years ago when she had been assaulted and disappeared for ten days. He had led the search for her and he and was someone she had come to trust as well. Henderson said he would have a police contingent ready to go by morning and he would personally meet her at the address she gave him for the safe house. He confided that he was looking forward to being involved in the joint operation with the F.B.I.

Finally Catherine called Joe back and gave him the list of locations and people. Joe told her that he already had a judge waiting for the list and promised her that he would be there in the morning with the appropriate warrants. She also gave him the list of a dozen phone numbers from the phones they had found in that office last night. Joe told her he would have Rita check them out.

Lee called Billy and gave him a complete report of what they had learned and what they were planning, omitting any details that involved Vincent and his community. Lee accounted for his injuries by telling Billy that the floor of an abandoned building had collapsed beneath him while he had been following Catherine. The tunnel people became Catherine's homeless contacts.

Billy responded. "Everything's set here. I already have a task force on standby and they will arrive in New York late this afternoon. I will personally meet you at the F.B.I. safe house in the morning." He chuckled then continued. "Dr. Smith will have a fit when he learns about Remington Steele being involved in this, but he will also be exceedingly pleased to have beaten out the C.I.A. in this investigation." He paused a moment. "You've done very well Scarecrow. Dr. Smith may grouse about bringing the F.B.I. into this, but I think it was the right decision."

Lee responded. "Thanks for the support Billy. Oh, by the way we found out yesterday that Amanda's mother has an identical twin sister who happens to be the mother of Remington Steele's wife. They're first cousins."

Billy laughed so hard he choked. After he explained to Francine what was so funny, Lee could hear her cracking up in the background for the rest of the conversation. Billy then got serious. "Lee, I want to warn you to keep a wary eye on that Chandler woman. The C.I.A. still has no idea how she pulled off the escape of Elliot Burch, and those pictures of the dead assassins were pretty gruesome."

"Don't worry, Billy. I'll be careful." Lee responded. He didn't mention that he already knew what had happened to them.

After hanging up, Lee told Catherine what Billy had said about her. "You know Billy is going to want to know everything about what happened here, and I haven't quite figured out what to tell him. I can't tell him about Vincent or his people but I need to come up with plausible sounding explanations."

Catherine thought a moment. "Everyone knows about the old steam and utility tunnels under New York. Most of our access to Below is through those utility tunnels and there have been enough news articles about the homeless that are often found in them. Tell him that I used those." She thought some more. "As for the attacks, there is a type of martial arts weapon, I've seen them before, that does the same type of damage as Vincent's claws. Just say that I had the help of a couple of martial arts experts and you never got their names."

Lee thought about it and nodded. "That ought to work, especially if I remind him of the Isaac Stubbs connection. You know you're pretty good at this. You would make an excellent agent."

"You know about Isaac?" She asked surprised.

"Of course. Last Spring you got yourself involved in one of the C.I.A's less reputable operations. While they were busy trying to cover up a bad situation, you stepped in and did what they **should** have been doing and thoroughly embarrassed them. They have a complete file on you." He paused at the horrified look on her face. "Don't worry. They have no idea about Vincent or his people. That's what irritates them the most. They can't figure out how you managed to take out that foreign hit squad and rescue Elliot Burch." He grinned. "And you can bet the farm that I will never tell them anything." He grinned at her. "It's too much fun watching them go nuts over it."

Catherine smiled at that.

Next, Remington called Mildred to let her know they were OK and to explain the situation. Mildred said she would contact a good friend at the I.R.S. and have him call Joe to see if he could be of any help. Remington also passed along the news about Laura's and Amanda's mothers. Mildred was fascinated by that information and told him that she was expecting to hear all the details as soon as they got back.

Later that afternoon Joe got a call from Mildred's friend at the I.R.S. He offered to help and was able to track down several of the names on Joe's list. He also promised to look into the financial records of all those on the list and see if there were any names that had been missed.

Catherine discussed the results of the various calls with the rest. Things were looking up and it appeared that they would be able to pull this off tomorrow rather than waiting until Monday like they had originally intended. Another round of calls were made and it was agreed that they would try to take the spy organization down tomorrow.

~ o ~

They went back down to the tunnels for the evening meal and to discuss strategies.

During their discussions the subject of the tunnel community's part in this came up. They all also agreed again to protect the secret of the tunnel community. Remington, Lee, Laura and Amanda all hinted that in exchange for their silence, they wanted permission to come back for a visit occasionally. Vincent told them that they would always be welcome. Father reluctantly agreed to all of them being accepted as helpers.

Paul asked Father for permission to remain below as a permanent resident. Even if tomorrow's operation was completely successful, there would still be plenty of people out there that would harbor ill will towards him. He had nothing left for him above and couldn't think of anything he would like better that spending the remainder of his life down here in these tunnels. He said that he had become rather fond of this place and its people. His request was granted.

Abigail said that she had also become very fond of the people down here and would like to be accepted as a helper. Father gave his nod. He suspected that she would probably be coming below fairly often anyway to visit a certain new resident.

They all spent the evening resting and preparing for tomorrows action. Remington, Paul and Lee ended up in Father's library discussing movie spies versus Paul and Lee's experiences of the real world. Amanda, Abigail and Laura spent the time in the dining chamber catching up on a lifetimes worth of family news.

Catherine and Vincent spent the evening in his chamber just enjoying each other's company. Catherine again fell asleep in his arms and he just held her and enjoyed watching her sleep until he finally drifted off as well.

Father spent the evening discussing the situation with Mary and worrying about the future of his little community. Vincent believed in these newcomers but he had trouble trusting anyone connected to the government. Mary reminded him that Catherine, as an Assistant District Attorney, essentially was the government and not only had she protected their secret but she had done a lot both for the community and especially for Vincent. He grumbled but accepted her assertion that he should trust Catherine and Vincent's judgment.

Just before retiring for the night, Father went by Vincent's chamber. He smiled to himself at the sight of Catherine and Vincent sound asleep together in Vincent's oversized chair. He quietly lowered the tapestry across Vincent's doorway and headed back to his own chamber. Since the day she had brought Vincent back from the abyss he had come, not only to accept her in Vincent's life but to actually welcome it.

~ x x x x x ~

_**Continued in Part 21**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	21. Assault

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part ****21: Assault**

**_Sunday Morning (Day 7)_**

By the time Catherine and her four companions arrived at the safe house, James McClendon and another man were already there waiting for them. Two other large formidable looking men came in right behind them and announced that the perimeter was secured.

Catherine smiled as she approached. "James, I'm so glad to see you again." She was both pleased and surprised to see him. "I'm glad that you're here but I didn't think this was your department."

"I'm glad to see you, too." He responded. "I know it's not exactly my department but I requested this assignment. For something as big and important as this I thought it would be best to get people that I personally trusted and I can't think of anyone I trust more than myself . . . usually. Besides I 'm hoping to keep you out of that hospital room you seem to keep ending up in." He glanced down at the blood spots on the side of her shirt and shook his head. "Though, it looks like I'm too late again. You've already been up to some mischief I see."

Catherine looked down where he had been looking. She shook her head when she saw the small blood spots. Father would fuss when he saw that. She looked up and shrugged. "It's just a flesh wound Kemosabi." She remarked with a smile. "Ya shoulda seen da odder guys."

"I've heard that one before." He replied with a chuckle. He glanced at the obvious condition of the other four that had arrived with her. "Judging by everyone's condition it looks like it's been a pretty rough ride so far." He turned to the other man that was standing beside him. "Terrence, let me introduce you to Catherine Chandler of the New York District Attorney's Office and one of the toughest people I know." He turned back to Catherine. "Cathy, this is Terrance Andrews of the State Department. I assumed that it would be a good idea to bring him in on this since this operation involves both the United Nations and possibly some foreign spies"

""It's a pleasure to finally meet you Miss Chandler." Terrance held out his hand.

Catherine took his hand. "I'm glad to meet you too, and my friends call me Cathy."

Remington, who had been standing near the window, spoke up. "There's someone coming." He was watching four people that were approaching the building. "There are two dangerous looking body guard types, an elegant woman and a slightly plump black man."

Lee glanced through the window and announced. "It's Billy and Francine." He shifted his point of view. "And here comes your Joe Maxwell and a second man."

Catherine glanced out. "That's Henderson. He's with the New York City Police Department and a friend of the family."

Once everyone was inside, introductions were exchanged. Billy was already aware of Terrance and knew that he was essentially one rung higher than Dr. Smith at the State Department. Billy and Francine both looked Catherine over in barely disguised curiosity. They had heard so much about this woman and now they were a bit surprised by the reality. They had been half expecting some kind of muscle-bound Amazon, not this petite elegant woman they had been presented with.

Remington and Laura also received their fair share of curious scrutiny. They at least seemed to fit Billy and Francine's expectations. Francine thought it was a shame that he was already taken.

Billy was informed by Joe that Remington's I.R.S. contact had been very helpful in tracking down the location of several of the names on the list they were using in today's operation. Some of them were not located in New York.

James quickly got in touch with the DC office and arranged to have those that were not located in town picked up once the operation started. Joe and Laura faxed the warrants to the appropriate offices.

James had brought twenty-five F.B.I. agents that were set up and waiting at the New York branch office. Billy had brought fifteen of his own agents that were staged at a nearby warehouse. Henderson had all three of the city SWAT teams on standby as well as thirty officers. Joe had thirteen general warrants for the thirteen locations that they had been able to identify as well as several dozen warrants for the individual people found in the various lists Catherine had recovered.

The one thing that had become problematical was the phone numbers on the phones in the third floor office. It had turned out that they all belonged to currently unused offices inside the UN building. Billy handed that info over to Francine and said that he would take care of that detail.

The next hour was spent getting organized and deciding who would be responsible for each aspect of the operation.

The F.B.I. safe house was set up as a command and communications center with Billy and James in charge. Henderson was responsible for the police contingent. Joe and Catherine acted as general intermediaries to help smooth over any problems with the various agencies and the city. Catherine also helped keep things going smoothly between the various participants in the safe house. Guard duties were divided up between James and Billy's security men with Remington acting as coordinating Security officer. Lee, Amanda and Laura mostly handled communications. They also supplied answers and insight.

At Catherine's suggestion, Officer Johnson was brought in to handle booking and processing of those captured in the sweep. Once Catherine explained his unique talent Billy laughed and enthusiastically accepted the suggestion. The biggest danger was the possibility of word getting out before the operation was finished. Johnson would keep those captured so tied up in processing that they would be unable to warn anyone.

Five teams were set up. Five FBI, three agency and six police officers made up each team. Since this was a domestic operation with national security overtones it was decided that each team would be run by the senior FBI agent with the senior agent from Billy's group as field leader. Three of the teams were paired with the SWAT teams. These three groups would hit the thirteen sites in the general warrants. One of the other two teams was assigned to sweep the area around Catherine's apartment and the DA's office then after the operation was complete they would go after the individuals not caught in the net. The last team was to take and hold the spy ring's communications center. Billy and Francine were both extremely impressed at how smoothly and quickly the operation was organized with Lee and Catherine handling the details. The State Department representative was also very impressed with the operation and especially with the way Lee, Amanda and Catherine handled themselves.

Terrance Faxed a copy of the warrant list to the State Department so they would be prepared for any international fallout that might develop from the operation.

The first step was to take the communications center that they had snuck into the other night. It had been designated site one. Unlike the other sites, this one had to be taken quickly by stealth in order to prevent the others from being tipped off. The team filtered in by ones and twos until they were all assembled in the two stairwells. The three agents met up on the second floor then rode up in the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors opened they all poured out of the two stairwells, taking the spy's completely by surprise. One of the spies made it to the radio but was shot by an agent before he could send out any warnings. Within less than a minute the entire floor was quickly secured and no messages had gotten out.

There was subdued celebration when word came back of the operations success. The first, and possibly the most critical, phase was completed. Now that the communications center had been taken it was time to begin the second phase of the operation. It was decided to start with the locations closest to the U.N. and work their way outward.

Harrison was talking to the police dispatcher, making sure that the area around the first three sites to be attacked would be clear. Remington had gone outside to check the perimeter and the guards. While they were waiting for everyone to get into place for the next phase, the subject of Dr. Smith and Remington Steele came up. Remington's part in the events of the last few days was explained to Terrance and James.

The subject of Remington's rather shadowy mysterious past also came into the conversation. Word was that he had been involved with American and British intelligence at one time in his past but no one knew any of the details. Apparently he had been so deep under cover that they couldn't even find out which branch he had been involved in.

Billy remarked with a snort. "When Dr. Smith finds out how closely Remington Steele has been involved in this operation he will absolutely have a cow." He shook his head and shrugged.

This caused Francine to crack up. Then she added a suggestion. "Maybe we should call it 'Operation Steele the Show'." She was half serious just because calling it that would get Dr. Smiths goat.

Billy frowned at her, trying very hard to hide his own amusement at the pun. Lee added his own opinion, suggesting that this operation would be such a big feather in his cap, that he would probably survive.

Terrence smiled at the humor while quietly taking notice of the apparent underlying opinions it reflected. He admitted to himself that their opinions pretty much agreed with his own.

They received word that all three assault teams were in position and Billy gave the order to begin the first wave of phase two. The orders were passed and the raids began on sites two, three and four. Henderson had to deal with a minor hiccup when a patrol car spotted one of the assault teams and miss interpreted what they had seen. Within thirty minutes word came back that all three raids went smoothly, taking out the three locations simultaneously. Close to twenty enemy agents were arrested in the raids.

Since they had first arrived Francine had been keeping a wary eye on Catherine. She couldn't get those pictures out of her mind. She wasn't sure which ones she found most disturbing, the ones of Catherine's slashed face after the mugging or the ones of the dead hit squad. They had all been hard to look at. She had noticed the scar below Catherine's left ear and cringed at the thought of what had happened to her. Francine was torn between sympathy for what she had been through and wariness over what had happened to that foreign death squad. Also, according to Lee, Catherine had been partially involved in the Dimitri Benko affair.

She had also noticed the well developed shiner and the blood spots on Catherine's shirt. Lee had filled her in on the two incidents that had resulted in those wounds. She couldn't help admiring that woman's intelligence and tenaciousness. In many ways Catherine reminded her of Amanda. Both women were a lot more than they appeared to be on the surface. As she continued to observe, Francine soon came to admire the way Catherine kept everything going smoothly inside the house. There was another thing about Catherine that reminded her of Amanda. They both had the ability to keep everything organized and to think fast on their feet.

James got word back that the F.B.I. had taken a small cell of the spy organization located in Washington D.C. and passed the information on to the others.

Billy glanced around the room pleased with himself and his subordinates. The operation so far had been flawless.

As they were gearing up for the second wave of assaults the State Department representative got an urgent phone call. A minute later he ordered an immediate halt to the operation.

_**Continued in Part 22**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	22. Complications And Connections

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part ****22: Complications And Connections**

Everyone in the room looked at the State Department man with undisguised incredulity. The operation was coming off perfectly and now he had suddenly ordered it stopped.

"What's the problem?" Inquired James, just a bit testily.

"That's a very good question. Why are you calling it off?" Billy asked his voice full of suspicion.

"I'm not calling it off but we can't move on sites five and eight." Terrance responded.

"Why can't we move on them?" Joe shot back. "I have the warrants right here."

"Your warrants are no good. Site five is a Russian Consulate and site eight is a Chinese Consulate." Terrance replied in exasperation. "They are used as home bases for their U.N. representatives. Every country has a similar place somewhere in this part of the city." He looked puzzled. "I was informed that this organization we're taking down was independent."

Billy responded. "It is, but they apparently have ties to both the Russians and the Chinese." He frowned as he thought it through. "I'd be willing to bet that each of them thinks that their arrangement is exclusive. Once it gets out that they are double dealing both countries, I suspect that they will both cut off their association with that organization, which is just as effective."

Lee jumped in. "But that won't do us any good right now. We have to get all of them or they will just regroup and start over. We also can't let word get out 'til this operation is complete."

Catherine spoke up. "What if we just cut them off, give them no way to communicate, and wait for them to come out?"

Billy responded. "Easier said than done, those consulates will have a lot more extensive communications systems but, you're right, we do need to isolate them at least until the rest of the sites are taken. I'm not sure if we can we accomplish that kind of isolation quickly enough?"

Lee responded. "We can jam all of their radio communications. It's the land lines that are a problem."

Billy responded. "Cutting off their land lines will be difficult and time consuming." Then he noticed that Lee and Amanda were both looking at Catherine as though expecting her to have a solution to their current dilemma. Lee saw the look in her eyes and thought he had a pretty good idea what Catherine had in mind.

Catherine's eyes practically glowed with mischief. "Leave the rest to me. We can just skip those sites for this round."

Lee turned to Billy. "If you arrange for those jammers, I think we can count on Miss Chandler to take care of the rest." There was a definite glint of amusement in his eye and voice.

Filled with curiosity, Billy contacted the agency and arranged to have the jammers set up. It would take a couple of hours. He would tell them when to activate them. All the time he kept watching Catherine, wondering what she had up her sleeve.

Catherine consulted the phone book then picked up the phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Edward. It's Catherine. I need you to contact Vincent and tell him to send Geoffrey to me, right away." Billy noticed a smile flicker across both his agent's faces. Catherine looked at her watch then glanced around. "Yes that's a very good idea. Could you fix up an assortment platter for say fifteen to twenty people and send it over with Geoffrey?" Catherine smiled. "Great, and thanks." She hung up.

"Who was that?" Billy couldn't help asking. "And how would this Vincent know where to find you?"

Lee answered him. "Edward owns the deli that we called you from yesterday. He is already aware of what is happening." He looked over at Catherine unsure how to answer the second question.

She had realized, immediately after she said it, that she shouldn't have mentioned Vincent's name. It was too late now to take it back so she would just have to try to shrug it off and hope she could divert their attention from him. "Vincent always knows where I am." Catherine replied with a smile. "It's a long story." She shrugged and refused to say any more. Billy looked at Lee and Amanda. They both shrugged. Billy also noticed a knowing smirk on Joe Maxwell's face

"Someone's coming." Announced one of the guards.

James glanced out the window and saw a well dressed man getting out of a limousine. "Not one of mine. Cathy is he one of yours?"

Curious, Catherine looked out and shook her head. "I have no idea who he is."

Billy looked out. "Oh God, what is he doing here?" He faced the room. "It's Dr. Smith . . . basically he's my boss."

"That's all we need." Francine remarked under her breath in disgust.

Billy opened the door just as the guard patrolling the outside perimeter had stepped up to block the new arrival's path. "He's one of us. Let him pass."

The man swept into the room as if he owned it. "Hello kiddies, just came by to see how our operation is going." His manner seemed to change as he took in the contents of the room. His eyes narrowed suspiciously as he looked at Remington and Catherine then grew wide as saucers when he spotted Terrance Andrews standing quietly in the corner next to James.

Terrance stepped up to Dr. Smith. "I didn't expect to see you here in the field." He turned to James. "Dr. Smith here is Billy's boss in the State Department." He turned to Dr. Smith. "James is one of the best men in the FBI. He was the one that brought me in on this." He then turned to Billy. "This is your show, Melrose, don't let us get in the way."

Thankful for the support, Billy ordered staging for the next wave of operations continued but had sites five and eight scratched from the list.

About fifteen minutes later one of the big guards announced. "There is someone approaching the building. Looks like a homeless kid."

Shortly a knock was heard at the front door. Catherine suggested that the guard at the door open it and let the kid in. A rather scruffy looking ten year old boy stood there looking up at the big man, his mouth hanging open.

Catherine spoke in a surprised voice. "Jerome?"

The boy smiled and came in carrying a large package. "Hi, Catherine. Geoffrey is watching that guy in Brooklyn." He handed her the package that he was carrying, it contained a large assortment of sandwiches, then he looked at her expectantly.

"Thank-you for bringing us lunch." She handed Jerome a piece of paper. "I need to have Mouse and Jamie disable all the phone type gizmos at these two addresses." She paused then added, "Tell them not to damage anything, just disable them because they will have to put everything back to normal later tonight."

"Sure thing Catherine." The boy smiled, interest and mischief showing on his face.

She smiled back. "Now scoot, and have Edward call us at this number," she pointed to a phone number on the paper, "when Mouse and Jamie have finished." She turned him around and gave him a gentle shove towards the door. Then as he left she addressed the rest of the room. "Lunch is served." She picked up one of the sandwiches and sat down in a handy chair.

Billy and Francine had watched this exchange in fascinated curiosity. They had known that Catherine was a formidable adversary from the report they had done on her, now it seemed that she also had an unexpectedly wide circle of contacts. When they looked at each other they both silently mouthed the word "Mouse?" Then with a shrug, they both grabbed a sandwich. Billy gave Lee and Amanda a 'there will be questions later' look as they also grabbed sandwiches.

Dr. Smith had been observing silently, trying to comprehend what was going on here. He really hated being out of the loop and the involvement of so many problematical non-agency outsiders disturbed him. The fact that Terrence considered Billy to be in charge of the operation did mollify him somewhat. He was going to have a long talk with Billy after this was over.

James had watched Catherine's exchange with the boy and the other's reactions to it with great amusement. He had recently crossed paths with Catherine twice in a major government corruption case. He had found her a very formidable woman with many hidden resources. It had been the biggest case of his career and he couldn't have broken it without her help. He grabbed a sandwich and indicated to Terrance that he should eat.

While they were waiting, Billy had the team originally assigned to site five reassigned to site nine for the second wave.

Joe grabbed a sandwich then Catherine picked up the tray and offered sandwiches to the two guards. She suggested that Remington take sandwiches out to the perimeter guards. Soon they were discussing the current operation and what they had learned about the spy ring, between bites of lunch. Everyone commented on how good the sandwiches were. Soon all that was left of lunch was a few crumbs on the tray.

Throughout this Laura had remained in the background. There was little that she could contribute to the current operation. James had talked with her and Remington for a while and thanked them for their part in exposing the spy ring so that they could be taken out.

"About all I accomplished was getting shot and kidnapped." Laura remarked

"Nonsense." James shot back. "From what Cathy told me, you two would probably both be dead, along with this operation, if you hadn't had the intelligence and guts to back her play against your interrogator."

Later when they were alone for a few seconds Lee suggested that if Vincent's name came up just say he was one of Catherine's martial arts experts and that they didn't know anything else about him.

After a while the phone rang and it turned out to be Edward reporting that Mouse and Jamie had accomplished their mission. Billy ordered the jammers activated and soon received a report that both consulates were completely cut off. The order was sent out to begin the next wave of raids.

While they were waiting for word on the current wave of raids to come in, Lee got into a conversation with Billy, Remington and Laura. He explained how it had been discovered that Laura and Amanda were cousins through their mothers. Lee also told Billy how Remington had covered for him after he had been injured.

Word came in that sites six, seven and nine were secure. Another seventeen enemy agents had been captured. Also several bad guys had been apprehended near Catherine's apartment and the D.A.'s office. An hour and a half later sites ten, eleven and twelve were raided and secured. An hour after that site thirteen and the Brooklyn safe house had been raided and secured. Also word was filtering in about the capture of the stragglers and those located outside New York.

Dr. Smith chose this point to make a graceful, and less flamboyant than normal, exit.

Catherine called Edward and had him tell Mouse to restore the phone gizmos at both of the consulate sites.

By dinner time the news media was full of news about the great spy ring bust. The jammers were deactivated and soon after, the two consulates tossed out the resident ring members to be apprehended by the F.B.I.

_**Continued in Part 23**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	23. Cleaning Up Details

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 23 : Cleaning Up Details**

After Joe and Catherine had left to begin processing the paperwork for all the arrests, Billy and James got into a discussion about Catherine. James talked a great deal about the two cases he had worked on with her and how tough and resourceful she was. He went into colorful detail about the time she had taken out three very large and strong men, including a rogue F.B.I. agent, who had tried to corner her in an elevator. He remarked that he would feel perfectly secure if he knew Cathy Chandler was watching his back.

Lee and Amanda both perked up when James had told them his side of the story about a little girl named Naomi that Catherine had rescued and how well she seemed to be doing under the care of Catherine's friends. Lee mentioned that Catherine had arranged a safe place, well off the grid, for Paul to disappear to. He also added that Paul was actually looking forward to permanent and safe retirement.

"I'll lay odds that your Paul is much better off now than he has been in a very long time. Twice in the last few months I have used Miss Chandler's connections to hide people that were simply too hot to place anywhere else safely." James, with a self depreciating smile, shrugged. "I don't know how she does it but when she arranges to hide someone, they simply vanish, almost like the earth has swallowed them whole." He shook his head. "Yet both of the people I have entrusted to her, as well as that little girl Naomi, have showed up when I needed them and were in far better shape, physically and mentally, than when I had turned them over to her."

"So where does she hide them?" Billy asked curiously.

James shook his head. "I have no idea and those she has protected won't say. I did once overhear one of those that she took care of, state that he was seriously thinking of going back there permanently." James thought a moment then continued. "About your man, Paul. I thought that I might arrange to set up a new identity for him through the witness protection program, just in case he ever decided that he wanted or needed it. I'll let Cathy know when the new identity is set up."

"I'll tell you something else." James continued. "I'm going to add the Remington Steele Agency to my list of reliable outside contacts. Both of those two were invaluable in this little ruckus."

~ o ~

By the time they had gone their separate ways Billy was half convinced that Catherine was part magician and part super agent with a little Sherlock Holmes mixed in. Lee and Amanda's insistence that she seemed to have the whole town wired through the street people left him marveling. He also had developed a strong respect for Remington Steele and Laura Holt. They had both proved to be very smart and very resourceful. He was even more impressed after reading Lee and Amanda's reports on them.

He decided that, like James, he should keep Catherine Chandler in his list of useful people that could be trusted in a pinch, right next to Lee and Amanda. He also decided that Laura and Remington would be very useful west coast allies. The recently discovered family bond to Amanda was the best kind of ties to base an alliance on. Nothing better than family ties to engender trust.

~ x x x x x ~

**Three Days Later**

Billy was gazing over his Desk at Dr. Smith who was waving his cigarette holder around as he pontificated on the successful operation. ". . . all in all a very fortuitous outcome. We shut down a major thorn in our side; we handily and very publicly embarrassed both the Chinese and the Russians; and, most satisfying of all, the N.S.A. and the C.I.A. had no idea what was going on. Quite a feather in my hat." He became more serious. "But what about this Chandler woman? I saw her C.I.A. file. What's her deal?"

Billy was waiting for this one and had talked extensively with Lee and Amanda about it. "Miss Chandler is a very unique individual. Apparently when she was mugged three years ago, she was rescued and taken in by a group of street people. Her injuries were treated by a doctor named Jacob Wells. He was the same doctor that took care of our people when they were injured. I did some research and found that, back in the fifties, he had come out against massive nuclear testing until the effects of radiation were fully understood. He ran afoul of the McCarthy commie trials. He was blackballed and his life was destroyed, then he dropped out of sight. Apparently he ended up living among the homeless people and started supplying them with free medical care."

Billy leaned back in his chair enjoying himself. The fact that so much of this escapade had been driven by a bunch of outsiders and homeless nobodies really rankled a snob like Dr. Smith which amused Billy no end. "It seems that during the ten days she was missing Miss Chandler made several contacts within the homeless community and now between them and her high society contacts, she has that whole city wired. If you want to know what is really happening in New York, you go to Catherine Chandler. She also apparently has many friends among the nuts and bolts of the city infrastructure. We still haven't figured out who the Mouse person was that isolated the consulates for us. Probably the nickname of someone in the city utilities department."

"What about this Vincent character I heard mentioned?" Dr. Smith asked.

Billy sat up and leaned on his desk. "That was a little more difficult to track down. Lee and Amanda knew that he was some sort of martial arts expert and He tended to stay in the background . . . way in the background. The only description we had of him was from Scarecrow's report of the Dimitri Benko affair. I suspected that he might be ex-special forces and had Francine look into it. She found the records of a Vincent Monetti in those old Viet Nam war files. It seems that shortly after coming back to California he disappeared. We think he ended up in New York and hooked up with Isaac Stubbs. Miss Chandler probably met him when she was taking classes from Stubbs. We think that he and Stubbs, combined with Miss Chandler's knowledge of the utility tunnels through her homeless contacts, are responsible for the successful escape of Elliot Burch from the hit squad last spring."

Dr. Smith leaned back in the chair, satisfied that he now knew the answer to a puzzle that still had the C.I.A. scratching their heads. After a moment he popped up from the chair. "Well done Billy. It might be a good idea to keep a wary eye on that Remington Steele character. I'm not sure I like the idea of him being related to our Mrs. King. We still know absolutely nothing about him before eight years ago when he took that name and started his detective agency." He stopped at Billy's door and looked back over his shoulder. "And don't lose contact with that Chandler woman; we may want to use her again." Then he swept out of the room.

Francine came into Billy's office. "Well, he seems satisfied." She laid the completed reports on his desk.

Billy chuckled. "Satisfied may be stretching it a bit. He came out of this smelling like a rose. Despite the fact that we were not even in control of it, he's taking the bows. It rankles him though that Remington Steele and Catherine Chandler were both major driving forces behind one of our biggest wins. It assuages his ego to pretend that we were **using** them."

"I heard what he said about using Miss Chandler." She laughed. "I don't think **anyone** uses Miss Chandler."

"The C.I.A. certainly found that out, but I do plan to have Scarecrow remain in touch, just in case we ever need her help again." He laughed. "And despite what Dr. Smith thinks, I believe that Remington Steele will also turn out to be a very helpful ally."

"So when do Lee and Amanda get back?" Francine asked.

Billy smiled. "They're supposed to return after Amanda's little family reunion." He paused. "I would love to be a fly on the wall when those two women meet for the first time."

After Francine left, Billy sat and thought about the last two weeks. The story he had relayed to Dr. Smith seemed to cover all the facts but he suspected there was a lot more there than he would ever know. He was pretty sure about the identity of the Dr. Wells character that everyone had referred to as Father. But the identity of the Vincent character just didn't feel right to him. According to Lee, the few times he had showed up it had been too dark and they had never been able to get a good look at him. Billy suspected that they may never know for sure who Vincent really was. In the end he decided that it didn't really matter. What he did know was that he owed the lives of his two best agents to this shadowy Vincent that no one had ever been able to get a look at.

He opened the first of the files and began scanning through them one last time. Finally he approved and signed off on the reports then he called Francine in and passed them to her to file.

~ o ~

Francine stood at the file drawer adding the newest folders Billy had given her. One was marked Remington Steele, the second was marked Laura Holt, the third was marked Catherine Chandler, and the fourth was marked simply Vincent.

The Remington Steele file only went back about eight years. The first sheet in the file was a nearly blank piece of paper with only a dozen words on it.

**True Name: Unknown  
Nationality: Unknown  
Birthday: Unknown  
Personal history: Unknown  
Previous Agency affiliation: Unknown**

Francine shook her head as she filed it. She was thinking of a phrase she once heard that perfectly described Mr. Steele. "An enigma wrapped in a mystery." One thing she would say about Laura. She had caught herself quite a hunk and Francine envied her.

Francine paused and opened the Vincent folder. Inside were only a few sheets of paper. One of them was Lee's official description of the intruder from the Dimitri Benko case. It basically boiled down to very big, very strong and very agile. The second sheet was a synopsis of the data on the missing Special Ops man, Vincent Monetti, with a large question mark at the bottom. The third was a synopsis of what they knew about his part in the recent spy ring case. That boiled down to, he always knew where to find Catherine Chandler, he had a great deal of involvement with Catherine's network of street people, he was extremely elusive and he had saved the lives of several people, including Lee and Amanda. Yet none of those he was supposed to have saved had ever gotten a look at his face. So little useful information. She chuckled at the thought that the same 'enigma' phrase was even more appropriate when describing Vincent.

Francine smiled to herself as she put the folders away because she knew something that the others didn't. Twice, during the operation, she had observed Miss Chandler's face when the name Vincent was mentioned. She would bet a year's pay that there was a lot more going on between Catherine and Vincent than the others suspected.

_**Continued in Part 24**_

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


	24. Reunion

**Crossed Roads****  
(Steele, Scarecrow and The Beast)  
**By Thomas Mc

* * *

**Part 24 : Reunion**

Dorothy West was still trying to make sense of it all. She sat on the plane looking at the hand-written note from Amanda that had brought her on this trip. It told her to come to New York with Phillip and Jamie to meet her sister. The note had also said that they were booked into an already paid for suite in a very exclusive hotel next to Central Park.

She looked over at Phillip and Jamie in the seats next to her. She had been watching the TV coverage of the big New York spy ring bust when the note had arrived by special courier accompanied by three 'first class' round trip plane tickets to New York. When she had called I.F.F. where Amanda worked, they had only told her that Amanda was in New York and refused to tell her any more.

~ o ~

Frances and Donald sat on the plane next to their children, Mindy and Danny, discussing the rather cryptic note from Laura that had accompanied the first class round trip tickets to this flight. It had invited them to a family reunion party in New York where they would meet Mother's long lost sister. It was actually pretty exciting and mysterious. Frances and Laura had always known that their mother was adopted but they had never expected to meet any one from her birth family.

According to the note they were booked into a hotel that faced Central Park and that their suite was already paid for by a friend. Frances was impressed. Anything that faced Central Park was extremely expensive. The children were just excited about the idea of a vacation and they were looking forward to the possibility of seeing Central Park.

~ o ~

As Dorothy walked down the concourse into the Terminal she spotted her daughter waiting for her. The boys spotted their mother and ran forward into hugs and kisses. Then their adolescent dignity reasserted itself and they backed off. Amanda stood up and greeted her mother.

Finally Dorothy asked. "So, what about this sister of mine that you found?"

Amanda smiled. "She's a wonderful person but I would rather wait until you see her and form your own opinion. I will tell you this, you will recognize her the minute you see her." There was a definite twinkle of humor in her eyes.

A man in a uniform picked up their bags and placed them in a large limousine. The boys were fascinated and Dorothy was impressed. All during the trip Dorothy kept trying to get Amanda to tell her about this sister that she said she had found. All Amanda would tell her was that they were supposed to be twins separated at birth. She wondered how similar and how different they were. When she was young she had met a pair of twin brothers that had been as different as night and day. One had been tall, slim, dark haired and very energetic. The other had been short, light brown hair, very muscular and very even tempered. Finally the limo stopped outside a very elegant hotel.

Amanda lead them through the grand entrance and they were greeted by a beautiful elegant woman. She held out her hand. "Hello Mrs. West. It is a pleasure to meet you." There was something very familiar about the woman.

Amanda introduced her. "Mother, this is Catherine Chandler. She is the one that found the records of you and your sister. She is also the one who arranged this little family get together."

"Well, I only helped where I could." Catherine gave her a self depreciating grin. "I'm sure you are anxious to meet your sister and the other members of your expanded family." She indicated a set of double doors close by.

As soon as her name had been mentioned, Dorothy had recognized Catherine from the various articles that she had read about her. She had been interested in Catherine since that time she had disappeared. The news coverage of that event had sparked her interest and she had loyally followed Catherine's career in the papers since then. To her it was like one of those Hallmark stories about rising above adversity. Now she was face to face with the object of that interest and found her to be as elegant and gracious as she had always pictured her.

"Right this way mother." Amanda broke into her reverie as she led her mother and her sons through the double doors into the little generic hotel meeting room.

As they passed through the doorway Dorothy spoke to her daughter. "Amanda, I don't know if I'm ready for this. I don't even know her. What if we don't connect? What if she doesn't like me?" She looked uncertainly down at the floor.

Amanda stopped and suddenly there was dead silence. Dorothy looked up and found herself looking into a mirror. Then her mirror image moved and the illusion was shattered. The two women gazed at each other in shock for several seconds. Phillip and Jamie were standing beside their grandmother with their mouths hanging open.

Amanda spoke up. "Mother, I would like you to meet your twin sister, Abigail Holt. Abby, this is my mother Dorothy West."

As they tentatively reached out Dorothy remarked emotionally. "All my life I have felt like there was a part of me missing, and now you're here."

Then there were tears and hugs and everyone babbling at once.

~ o ~

Frances, Donald and their children were exiting the concourse when they spotted Remington and Laura waving to them from the waiting area. After a round of greetings Remington took their claim checks and handed them to the porter.

While waiting, Frances asked Laura about her obvious injured state. "Laura what happened to you?"

"Mother got involved with a retired spy and found herself in the middle of a major spy ring case." We came out here to find out what happened and got embroiled in the same case." She looked down ruefully at her leg. "Mother and I both came out of it with similar souvenirs."

"Is she OK?" Frances asked concerned.

"She's just fine. She also has a new boyfriend." Laura replied with a smile. "And a new sister."

The porter returned with a cart loaded with their luggage. Remington and Laura led them out of the terminal where a limousine sat waiting for them. Mindy and Danny were both suitably impressed by the ride along with Frances and Donald. Frances tried to get Laura to tell her about the long lost sister but she refused to give any details.

They were even more impressed when they pulled up in front of the high class hotel where they were staying. Catherine met them in the lobby and was introduced. She then directed them to the small conference room off the lobby.

As they entered the room Frances spotted her mother as the children called out, "Grandmother," and ran up to her. She looked down at the children in surprise and delight.

Then from the other side of the room Abigail approached leaning on her new cane and called out, "I'm over here children." The two children did a double take, took a couple of seconds to recover from their shock then ran over to her.

Frances and Donald stood in shock looking back and forth between the two women. Laura chimed in at this point. "Frances, Donald, This is Dorothy West . . . Mother's identical twin sister." She turned to the mirror image. "Dorothy this is my older sister Frances Piper and her husband, Donald."

Donald recovered first and held out his hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. West. As you can guess, this is quite a surprise for us."

Frances reached out and took her hand. "That means you're my aunt Dorothy?"

Dorothy pulled her in for a hug. "That's right, Niece. And it's great to meet my sister's children." She looked down at the two stunned children. "And grandchildren."

At this point Lee and Amanda joined the group and were introduced. Frances and Amanda were each fascinated with their new cousin. Next, Paul approached in a wheelchair, which Father had insisted on him using for at least a week while his stitches healed, and was introduced to everyone. Soon diner was announced and a large table, that could seat everyone there, was set up. As soon as everyone was seated the staff began to serve the food. Apparently the menu was made up of favorites from both families. For the rest of the event Catherine remained in the background acting as hostess and event director.

The dinner turned into an orgy of discovery as the two families exchanged gossip and family histories. The injured condition of Paul, Remington, Laura, Amanda, Abigail and Lee were also brought up and discussed. The tales were edited for those not fully in the know and Vincent and his community were not mentioned at all. Laura mentioned that the reason Catherine Chandler was wearing a hat with a veil that covered half her face was because she had gotten a black eye, as well as a cracked rib, out of their little fracas. This brought out tales of her involvement. After about three hours things began to wind down and everyone headed for their rooms for the night. It had been an exciting and exhausting day. Catherine went to the check-in desk to make sure everything went smoothly.

When Dorothy got up to go Abigail asked her to stay for a while longer. They talked about their earliest childhood memories. Then Catherine came back in. She was no longer wearing her veiled hat and she locked the conference room door behind her. Abigail had spent a long time discussing the next development with Catherine, Vincent and Father. In the end, with Catherine's urging, Father had finally decided to allow it, all the while grumbling that Vincent would do whatever he wanted to do anyway.

Abigail got very serious as she took hold of Dorothy's hands. "There is one more new friend that I want you to meet. When Paul and I were about to pass out from loss of blood, he found us and saved us." She looked down for a moment then back up. "The first time I saw him, he scared the hell out of me. I'm still not really sure whether I passed out from fear or blood loss . . . or both. I really would like you to meet him but I wanted to prepare you. Although he can be very," She paused, "Very frightening looking, he is really very sweet and I have come to think of him as a very dear friend." There was another pause as she gazed into her sister's eyes. "Amanda, Lee, Laura, Catherine, Paul and I all owe our lives to him." She squeezed her twin sister's hand. "Because of his very unusual appearance it would be extremely dangerous for him if the world found out that he existed. So before you meet him I need your promise that you will never tell anyone about him." Abby glanced over at Catherine who gave her an encouraging nod. "Dorothy, will you promise me to keep his secret if I introduce him to you?"

Dorothy had not missed the glance over at Catherine. For a long moment she gazed into her sister's eyes noting the sincerity reflected there. Finally she answered. "Yes, Abby, I will keep yours and his secret. And please, call me Dotty . . . It seems to go so well with Abby." She smiled at her sister and squeezed her hands.

Abby nodded to Catherine who then went through a door located at the back of the room.

"Dotty," Abby continued, "you must understand that he is very sensitive about the way people react to him and as scary as he may appear, he is really very nice."

Catherine came back in leading a very large person by the hand. He was huge and covered from head to foot in a dark hooded cape. The deep hood prevented Dorothy from seeing his face. At first she thought he was wearing fur gloves, then she caught sight of very long sharp claws and glanced at her sister in surprise. Catherine and the figure approached to about ten feet and the figure reached up and pushed back his hood. Dorothy's breath caught in her throat as she got her first good look at Vincent. He was at once both very frightening and exceedingly magnificent in appearance, much like the lions he resembled. Both fear and awe were fighting it out for supremacy in her mind.

Abby gave her hands a squeeze then, letting go, stood up and went over to the creature. She took a hold of his other hand, apparently unconcerned about the claws. "Vincent, I would like to introduce you to my twin sister, Dorothy."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Dorothy." He responded.

At the sound of his voice her insides turned to jelly and the awe won out. "Um . . . it's nice to meet you . . . Vincent." She stood up. As she cautiously approached, she noticed that Catherine had put her arm around his back and rested her head against his side as he had put his arm around her. It looked to her like there was more going on here than just friendship.

She realized from what Abby had said earlier that Amanda and Lee had already gotten to know him. After a few minutes to get used to his appearance and encouraged by the examples of Catherine and Abigail, she finally relaxed and began to get to know this fascinating creature / new friend.

**_The End_**

* * *

**Characters :**

**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**

Lee Stetson - Secret agent for an un-named agency (Codename - Scarecrow)  
Amanda King - Suburban mother / agent (Secretly married to Lee for one and a half years)  
Dorothy (Dotty) West - Amanda's mother  
Francine Desmond - Seasoned agent and Billy's right hand person  
Billy Melrose - Lee & Amanda's boss  
Paul Cartwright - retired agent (AKA - John Abbot , Peter Blair , Joe Dawson / Codename – 'Cowardly' Lion)

**Remington Steele**

Remington Steele - ex-conman (real name unknown) discovered that Steele didn't exist and stepped into the role)  
Laura Holt - Highly qualified private detective and creator of the _Remington Steele Detective Agency_ (Married to Remington for two years)  
Abigail (Abby) Holt - Laura's mother  
Mildred Krebbs - Secretary / PI in training  
Frances & Dr. Donald Piper - Laura's Sister & Brother-in-law

**Beauty And The Beast**

Catherine Chandler (The Beauty) - Assistant District Attorney of New York City (and wealthy socialite/heiress)  
Vincent (The Beast) - Half man half lion (origin unknown) sometimes referred to as the Creature of Central Park  
Jacob Wells (Father) - Medical doctor and leader of the tunnel community (raised Vincent from infant)  
Joe Maxwell - District Attorney of New York City  
Rita - Computer operator and friend of Catherine

* * *

"**_Beauty and the Beast_**_" and its characters are owned by Witt-Thomas Productions and Republic Pictures. "**Scarecrow and Mrs. King**" and its characters are owned by WB and STM. "**Remington Steele**" and its characters are owned by MTM Productions and the NBC Television Network._

_ No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is the property of the author and is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans. Original concepts and story elements may be used by other authors as long as appropriate credit is given._

_V.12.04.06  
_


End file.
